I searched for you
through overlapping pines,
and hidden horizons
purple shadows slinking
along unmarked trails
coiling and fading
under my weary feet
I climbed mountains
distorted, two dimensional
cartoon clouds overhead
nothing feeling real
your last words, burning
bronzed in my brain, dark
like a gothic museum
you circled back, a
stone’s throw from
the vanishing point
forging slowly, building
your own atelier
of tools and devices
green and organic
I returned to the underpainting
where we began, unconditionally
first layer on the canvass
when I loved you simply
montages of laughter, tears
and naivety, only to learn
I did not save you
you saved yourself
I only needed
to love you better
In response to Poetics at dVerse Poets Pub. Melissa has given us an ekphrastic challenge, inspired by Georgia O’Keefe. She has also asked us to add a handful of interesting words from the world of art. The words that I included are: overlapping, coil, distorted, two dimensional, cartoon, bronzed, gothic, museum, vanishing point, forging, atelier, organic, underpainting, montage, trompe-l’oeil. (15 words)
Image: Georgia O’Keeffe, Long Lake, Colorado; Adrienne Brugger Sketchbook (1917), watercolor and graphite on paper, Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, gift of The Georgia O’Keeffe Foundation
mishunderstood 