On Mondrian 2 (dear heart)

Piet Mondrian. Broadway Boogie-Woogie. 1942-43
Courtesy of Olga’s Gallery

© Sweepy Jean and Sweepy Jean Explores the (Webby) World, 2013

On Mondrian

Piet Mondrian - Composition with Red, Yellow, Blue and Black; 1921 (www.abcgallery.com)

This all means something.

There’s a big red box–
Big, red,
And red stands for life, for blood …
No, madness. No,
Red is angry.
Yeah,
But the yellow rectangles
Are happy and excited
To be here,
So are gray and white,
And those last two hug the red
Because they like the way it smells.
The blue wishes it were red.

The black box,
Well, it’s hard to see
But there are people in there
Walking around–
Souls trapped in midnight.
Their hands reach out
But never find the orienting wall.
Every space is bigger in the dark;
The air, closer; and every sound
A stiff breeze drying out
Wide open, useless eyes.
The people push each other down
When they touch.

No fear is greater than that found
In the absence of light
And it’s not the box that’s dark,
It’s their hearts and that’s what
This all means.

*************************

NaPoWriMo Day 24. The NaPoWriMo prompt was to write a poem that responds to a work of art.

Please visit this list of my poet friends who are also doing the poem-a-day challenge. They are worth the look. I’m inspired by them daily. Contact me if you want to be added to the list.

© Sweepy Jean and Sweepy Jean Explores the (Webby) World, 2012

Polite Conversation

We are probably at our most human when we are naked, sick, or otherwise emotionally or physically vulnerable. Yet we spend so much energy hiding these real or perceived vulnerabilities, to the point where there are just some things people don’t want to hear or talk about.

I can’t help but think of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo. A fascinating figure in her own right whose paintings are stunningly beautiful, she may not have received the acclaim she deserved in her lifetime because she was married to famed muralist Diego Rivera. Much of what I know about Frida I learned from my time spent at an amazing Web site, Frida Kahlo Fans. It’s well worth a visit. There was a 2002 movie called Frida, that I have not seen yet, for which Salma Hayek was nominated for an Oscar.

Frida was a victim of a horrific traffic accident in her late teens that left her physically and emotionally scarred. It was from that experience that she began painting.