Death Wears it Well

Death wears Anorexia well,
draping the latest fashion
against her bony frame –
it’s all about the name –
weighing herself up
in the mirror, nude.

Her attitude is rude
and sassy,
with a hint of fear,
as she tucks lank hair
behind her ear,
turns to view
her new tattoo

and wonders why
it’s shrunk.

Kim M. Russell, 15th September 2016

egon-schiele-weiblicher-ruckenakt-female-nude-back-view-recto-sitzernder-weiblicher-akt-seated-female

http://www.artnet.com/artists/egon-schiele/weiblicher-r%C3%BCckenakt-female-nude-back-view-recto-wL9g5ozoTdARAcWuCuSU6A2

My response to imaginary garden with real toads Bits Of Inspiration ~ If Death Were A Woman

Today Susie has introduced us to Ellen Kort, Wisconsin’s first Poet Laureate, serving from 2001-2004, and author of eleven books and eight collections of poetry. Ms. Kort’s poetry has been performed by the New York City Dance Theatre and recorded on audio by Ellen Burstyn, Ed Asner and Alfre Woodard. Susie has also introduced us to the poem ‘If Death Were A Woman’. She says she  was intrigued by the concept and delighted by Kort’s approach to something we often coin as bleak. Below is an excerpt from the poem.

If Death Were A Woman

 I’d want her to come for me
smelling of cinnamon wearing
bright cotton purple maybe hot
pink a red bandana in her hair
he’d bring good coffee papaya juice
bouquet of sea grass saltine crackers
and a lottery ticket We’d dip
our fingers into moist pouches
of lady’s slippers crouch down to see
how cabbages feel when wind bumps
against them in the garden

Susie has asked us who the woman named Death would look like. Could it be Helen Mirren, who portrays Death in the upcoming movie, Collateral Beauty? Is Death beautiful strength? Or sassy? Whichever lady death is, Susie wants us to write about her, approaching the topic in whatever manner we choose. It could be physical death, death to eating our favourite food. It could be the death of a summer garden, a cherished pet, a favourite television show. 

20 thoughts on “Death Wears it Well”

  3. This is ones of those poems that seem to cut right through me – with the horror and truth of it. I’m fascinated by how you took the actions of a woman suffering anorexia and made those actions the actions of death itself. You stripped her bare and exposed her — haunting. Thanks for sharing.

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