Nocturne in Grey and Gold: Chelsea Snow

Artists capture fleeting moments,
but their impressions might remain for ever.

Thus we feel the chill of snow and night air.
We’re drawn from here to there,
towards warm light.

The shadowy figure crossing the bridge
appears to stumble
or slip on the icy pavement,
drunk perhaps.
We cannot see his face,
but he seems determined,
late for an assignation, angry, seeking
company, or is he fleeing?
Is he an abuser
or perhaps a murderer?

The powerful magnetic light of the public house
burns, the fug of beer and tobacco seeping
and mingling with icy fog.

Who’s to say he will not carry on walking,
this man without a dog?

Kim M. Russell, 27th April 2025

Nocturne in Grey and Gold: Chelsea Snow by James Abbott McNeill Whistler, 1876
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Bequest of Grenville L. Winthrop

It’s Sunday, the 27th day of NaPoWriMo; the daily resource is the online collection of the Harvard Art Museums and the optional prompt is based on by  W.H. Auden’s ‘Musée des Beaux Arts’, which took its inspiration from a very particular painting: Breughel’s ‘Landscape with the Fall of Icarus’.

Our challenge is to write poems that describe detail in a painting, and begin, like Auden’s poem, with a grand, declarative statement.

I explored the online collection of the Harvard Art Museums and found a painting by Whistler, whose work I admire. I particularly like the way he names them after piano compositions; he was the first to apply the term to night scenes in paintings.

Also linked to the dVerse Poets Pub Open Link Night on 5th June 2025 as we’ve just had an ekphrastic prompt from Melissa.

46 thoughts on “Nocturne in Grey and Gold: Chelsea Snow”

  1. The impressive way you write to these amazing prompts (too difficult if you ask me) have me mesmerized perpetually, Kim. Thanks for the honor of letting me read your work here. I love how you ended this poem. A man without a dog (even a stray) is completely and utterly alone. What a poor soul. Thanks for this joy of reading you. Blessings on your Sunday.

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    2. What a beautifully evocative piece! Your poem captures the haunting atmosphere of Whistler’s painting with such depth and intrigue. The shadowy figure, the icy streets, and the magnetic pull of the light create a vivid narrative, leaving readers to ponder the mystery and emotion behind the scene. A stunning tribute to art and its storytelling power!

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  6. This is stunning work done, Kim! 😍 I love the way you have captured the haunting atmosphere of Whistler’s painting here especially “tobacco seeping and mingling with icy fog.” ❤️❤️

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  11. You have spun a complete story from this painting Kim – I loved the pub description – though pleasanter to be in now, pubs have lost something of their fug with the banning of tobacco…

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  12. There are echoes, in tone and rhythm – in language register, of great poets in your write – but also this is seen through feminine eyes, and brought home the difference…would I hve been fearful, momentarily, as a male? Perhaps, ys, though here one senses the artist exploring the mment to paint with words. This form is so difficult, ut here done so adroitly, smoothly. Bursting with atmosphere.

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  15. Thank you for introducing me to the riches of NaPo etc which hithertofore had seemed like a string of symbols for the chemical elements… I had no idea Whistler had so many NAMES.

    You put so much endeavour into your poems, Kim, not to say they are laboured – they flow with consummate ease, while also having spell-binding enquiry.

    May you and Mojo continue to comfort one another just now. You’ll know when she’s ready to leave you. Love to you x

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  17. We do hope the person has reached home safe with grace;

    Does she/he have a dog in the first place?

    It may be a “she” for what do we know?

    She may have been blind or forgotten where to go?

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