The Uncertainty of the Poet

She tries to see beyond
the contours of the marble torso,

the pile of over-ripe bananas
and the shadows of the building,

to the boats by the harbour wall,
the darkening sky and the coming storm.

But her thoughts return
to sunshine and shadow,

the dimple in the statue’s backside
and the bruised yellow of fruit

about to rot
in the heavy heat.

She wonders how the artist
captured everything

in his rectangle
when there is so much,

even a single banana’s
shadow, on which to focus,

uncertain of poetic
choice.

Kim M. Russell, 31st August 2025

The Uncertainty of the Poet, 1913 – Giorgio de Chirico – WikiArt.org

It’s the last day of July, Thursday, and Open Link Night at the dVerse Poets Pub, when we can link up a poem of our choice. However, our host gives us a mini-prompt to inspire a new poem, and this week Grace has pleasantly surprised me with a mini optional prompt with a great title, ‘The Uncertainty of the Poet’, a painting by Giorgio de Chirico.   

Grace asks us to use the image as inspiration for ekphrastic poems, or use the title of the image as titles or parts of our poems.

42 thoughts on “The Uncertainty of the Poet”

  2. Hi Kim. Love the details of the poem from the rotting bananas, boats, darkening sky and coming storm. The marble torso also caught my attention but good to note the sunshine and shadows too. How and which to focus are good questions. Thanks for your ekphrastic poem.

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  3. Oh, that is quite a quandary! With the sheer volume of things the artist can choose to frame, and the millions of minds that may encounter it, it is fascinating to think about what might emerge and what it all means. Nicely done!

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  13. There is so much one can focus on in this piece of art. Surrealism is subjective and the poet is left with uncertainty as to why the artist choose these particular items. Enjoyed your thought process.

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  14. A lovely musing, Kim! I especially enjoyed this couplet:

    “the dimple in the statue’s backside
    and the bruised yellow of fruit”

    Pretty sure I’d be preoccupied with the dimple in the backside too. As I have been many a time during life drawing classes in the past! 🙂

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  15. kim, been a while since i visited your blog! missed your poetry. so glad you took the challenge to create based on the beautiful art. loved your take on it. “even a single banana’s shadow” … holds so much, right??!

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  19. Paintings about poetry are like poems about dreams: translations at best of a medium inexpressable in others. The surrealists animated the unconscious border from which human thought arose — animated chaos one wakes from and puts to use harnessed to a form. Reflecting on the painting here sets title to task and finds inspiration in its butt-dimple. Well done and forgive the drone.

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