Frances Woodman in New York, 1979
image offered by Tess Kincaid
Mag 137 *click here*
In The Loft
You're so black and white!
That's what he said, turning away.
She just huddled there
offering her fork
as if no one cared at all
and that tugged at me,
me wondering on
all the pain I found in her
weep sweet eyes as they
fastened on my bare
naked flesh and the pile of clothing
at my bruised stained feet.
September 30, 2012 8:20 AM
The words lead and I am as far out at sea by the end as you are. There's a story here and I am not sure I think well of the characters in my poem but there it is.
What more could your word do, when the image which brought then forth is so harrowing to begin with?
ReplyDeleteYou certainly grasped the confusion of the picture.
ReplyDeleteOh, what haunting lines. Yes, these characters, and the story of theirs is very hard.
ReplyDeleteNo disclaimers necessary-- this is a bit of a confounding and disturbing image-- excellent! xxxj
ReplyDelete".. weep sweet eyes.." says it all so beautifully. This is such an eloquent expression of a very sad life, Christopher. Thank you so much for sharing.
ReplyDeletethere is a story and you just told it...great stuff!
ReplyDeleteWell the picture took me far out too ~
ReplyDeleteI think there is a story here about those eyes fastened on you ~
I also saw the pain...
ReplyDeleteThere is beauty in your dark words.
ReplyDeleteI agree there is a story to tell here but I could only see sad darkness.
Perhaps most of us already know Frances did not end so well...perhaps we read too much into this image. I hope I held my place above the bottom of the pit, allowing the appearance of a dim or even dark story but not one that is lethal.
ReplyDeleteEvocative.
ReplyDelete"bare naked flesh" and "bruise stained feet" stayed with me. It makes me think of people who have been abused (or who have self-abused) to such a point that their bruises and aches have stories to tell.
ReplyDeleteYes, you could go there... In my youth during Kennedy's presidency there was a 50 mile hike craze. I got bruises and sprained ankles from overwalking on the fifty mile course so that too is a kind of possibility, and today I have trouble with heart problems and diabetes both which join and create bruised looking feet, so there are many ways to reach the image.
DeleteAs to bare naked flesh, I see a few ways, a lover in the middle of a complicated situation, an abused other in the same room, an abuser exposing him or herself and caught in this tableau at some point in the dynamic situation. As a reasonably normal person, I hope for the lover, but you may be right that abuse by and/or to the person standing on bruised feet is more likely.
I see a connection between her 'weep sweet eyes' and the horribly abused person standing before her ~ she, terrified of the same fate. As always, Christopher a deep thoughtful write.
ReplyDeleteThe pain in both is so very palpable...well done...
ReplyDeleteThank you, Tess.
DeleteEnigma Variations - not Elgar's; Christopher's.
ReplyDeleteWow. I think this is a high compliment.
Deletegreat take... felt it...
ReplyDeleteJJRod'z
Such a wonderful writing!!
ReplyDeletelure of the impure