How does a curvilinear,
abstract frill
wrap around a heart of patina,
fungus-like, an organic shell?
Observe how the primitive waves crash,
preserving the pulsing
pigment of Persian-red gouache;
how the artist’s blood
seeped into the underpainting.
Kim M. Russell, 6th May 2025
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum, gift of The Burnett Foundation
It’s Tuesday Poetics at the dVerse Poets Pub and our host is Melissa, with an ekphrastic prompt.
Melissa has chosen the American modernist artist, Georgia O’Keeffe, known for her paintings of flowers and landscapes, as inspiration for our poems. O’Keefe used bold colours in her paintings, which “often depicted their subjects in a close-up style. Her work revolved heavily around nature, showcasing it in its simplicity and with all its idiosyncrasies”.
Melisa would like us to choose one of the paintings she has featured in this post and compose an ekphrastic poem, which must incorporate a handful of the terms in the grid she has provided. I’ve chosen: abstract, curvilinear, gouache, organic, patina, primitive and underpainting.
writing in north norfolk 
Oh, I really love the closing lines… to see the artist’s heart really made me see the painting in another way than I did.
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Thank you, Björn. I didn’t see the name of the painting, so I just wrote about what I saw. I had to check the prompt for the title of the painting and add it to my post.
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Sometimes that is a good idea…. I would probably go for the eye even without the name.
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nice one Kim
i also wrote about the iris
much♡love
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Thank you, Gillena. I’ll be over to read yours shortly.
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That fringe always struck me as abial — Eve’s garden lingerie — the seeped blood here affirms even as it eclipses.
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Thank you, Brendan.
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I love that you begin by asking us about the curvilinear, abstract frill. Your rhythm and rhyme are so creative, too.
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Thank you, Melissa. As you’ve probably gathered, I didn’t see the title of the painting, I just looked at it and didn’t see the flower at first. That’s what I love about ekphrastic prompts: seeing different things and reading other interpretations.
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I wouldn’t have known. I’m one to turn things into other things.
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Kim, the line “how the artist’s blood / seeped into the underpainting” is striking to me—so intimate and raw.
Much love,
David
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Thank you so much, David!
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… and you’ve chosen beautifully your prompt words and the poetry that carries them, fertile and fecund.
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Thank you, Kathy!
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Can’t pick any specific line that stood out. The whole hummed with a reciprocal creativity.
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AH, thank you so much!
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I enjoyed your alliteration and those ending lines were a surprise. Intense. Wonderful.
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Thank you very much, Mish.
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I didn’t expect the last two lines. Powerful writing!
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Thanks Nolcha!
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i can see the shell, and the waves, and the blood! really, really good, Kim 🙂
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Thank you so much, Ren.
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Wouldn’t she love to see all these poetic reactions to her paintings?
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If only she could, Judy.
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“how the artist’s blood – seeped into the underpainting”
You have truly melded your creativity with Georgia’s, Kim…
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Thank you, Andrew.
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Wow, Kim! That was gorgeous!
Yvette M Calleiro 🙂
http://yvettemcalleiro.blogspot.com
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Thank you, Yvette!
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This is absolutely beautiful, Kim, especially the closing lines.
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Thank you, Punam.
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Excellent, Kim. Love the ending.
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Thank you, Sara.
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