Ekphrastic Poem

An ekphrastic piece after “Standing” by Kiki Smith — The standing figure arches her back and stretches toward the sky. Water flowing from her fingers trails up her arms, past the crooks of her armpits, and over her bronzed ribs. The water traces a constellation across her chest. Did you know that starfish have eyes at the ends of…

The shock of a china blue vase among the muted wooden passage of the grand foyer. Pinafores, crisp and white, the smell of dust and linen, all whispering as a baby doll hits the floor. In this clouded light daughters slip to the periphery of time, out of sync — not yet women, not innocent, no longer possessed of a sense of play. A day on the edge of noon. An acceptance of rain. *Oil painting by John Singer Sargent.

After: Raul Diaz’s Instagram Post In that vacuum of darkness, I lose myself, and fear sets in the knees and rises to the throat. What is there to fear, it’s just the dark? That’s where fear originates, growing into itself, the black veil is an ocean, I drown without a boat. …

after the painting “The Bedroom” by Vincent van Gogh and the piano composition “Yellow Bed” by Kayleen Asbo In the tilted room with the yellow bed, hope waltzes on the wooden floor — one, two, three, one, two, three — not that you see it there, it’s not obvious like the…

An Art Poem, inspired by Andrew Wyeth’s 1949 self-portrait. In his own words: “I walked in [to the Olsen House], went upstairs, and suddenly I was startled. There was another figure standing there. It was me in a dusty mirror… The reason I did it was that I wanted a portrait…