Has this ever happened to you?
One Day The Wife Woke Up and Didn’t See the Mirror
I paint self portraits because I am so often alone
because I am the person I know.
- Frida Kahlo
If I am never alone
how will I ever poem
a self-portrait?
If I am eternally buried
beneath bottles of soy milk,
berry-stained shirts,
missing socks,
and missing cats,
will my words surface
on the bare toe of my left foot,
sticky with strawberry fur?
If I never become the person I know,
never meet the woman in the mirror,
lose the address
miss the cab
wave wildly
to the back of a stranger’s blond head
will my poem be the last thing
seen on the shining silver bumper
as the checkered taxi
careens around a corner?
And then.
If I walk into the nearest salon
drape every mirror
with a piece
of myself,
transform from gold to ginger
will I ever
will I ever have the right paints
to capture my beauty?
posted by jillypoet @ 1:56 PM
11 Comments:
i have become so fond of self portraits of all sorts the last year or so. this poem is a wonderful consideration of the portraits we make whether we know it or not and the worry that we'll never make it what we want it at all.
by the way, i read it fast and i thought the last line said, "will i ever have the right PANTS to capture my beauty"
funny, right. but it works, too. :)
"will my words surface
on the bare toe of my left foot,
sticky with strawberry fur?" - great lines!
I'm still stripping off the layers of old paint and varnish to find my true colors.
Oh this is so very good.....my favourite lines are the ones Kimberley just quoted.
I love this poem. In itself it is like a self portrait. I really like the lines "will I ever have the right paints to capture my beauty?"
"wave wildly
to the back of a stranger’s blond head
will my poem be the last thing
seen on the shining silver bumper"
I could see that happening!!
Ah... Frida Kahlo, one of my favorite painters of self... and how well she knew that face in the mirror. I can only say. Yes..Yes.. No.. No.. This is wonderful, don't morn the sweet times... Your time will come in the end....enjoy the jam!
love-bd
A wonderful poem - don't you find self-portraits vary wildly, according to when they're taken?
You have written so many wonderful poems-- they are all pieces of your self-portrait. But, you already knew that, didn't you?
first of all the lead quote is perfect,,, i might have to borrow it and discuss it further on my ....why paisley??? blog... but your work was equally as touching,, because it made us see the persona buried beneath all of the things that are interfering as it were with the self portrait... i really liked this.....
Self portraits seem like a strange thing to me - I always think they'd be movies or video clips. Hard to capture the self. I love your writing here!
Oh, so true. Thanks for so eloquent a statement.
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