Thursday, April 28, 2016

ARTSPEAK! 2016: Poem #28 "Strawberry Basket"

Hello, and welcome to day 28 of my National Poetry Month poem-a-day-project ARTSPEAK! in which I respond to images found in the online collections at the National Gallery of ArtPlease join me, if you feel so inspired!

But first, please visit Heidi at My Juicy Little Universe to see a title! And punctuation! And a new line full of verbs!


 This year's ARTSPEAK! theme is "Plant. Grow Eat." It was inspired by the release of my latest book FRESH DELICIOUS: Poems from the Farmers' Market.
Here are the poems so far:

"When We Meet in the Garden" after The Artist's Garden at Argentheuil - A Corner of the Garden with Dahlias by Claude Monet
"Sunday Afternoon" after Madame Monet and her Son by Auguste Renoir
"Let Us Now Praise Leafy Things" after The Gardener - Old Peasant with Cabbage by Camille Pissarro"Just Like the Garden" after On the Fence by Winslow Homer
"What Grapes Say" after Plate by Dorothy Posten
"A Dream of Wheat" after Field of Green Wheat by Vincent van Gogh
"Fruit Jar" after Fruit Jar by J. Howard Iams
"Child in the Garden" after The Artist's Garden at Vetheuil by Claude Monet
"Math Lesson (from the Garden)" after Still Life with Lemons and Oranges wit Blue Gloves" by Vincent van Gogh
"Gardening Basics" after The Watering Can/Emblems: the Garden by Roger de La Fresnaye
"Mary in the Garden" after Reading in the Garden by Pompeo Mariani
"This Wheelbarrow" after A Woman Emptying a Wheelbarrow by Camille Pissarro
"A Dream of Sheep" after Warm Afternoon by Winslow Homer
"Harvest" after The Last Days of Harvest by Winslow Homer
"Anticipation (in the Garden) after George Moore in the Artist's Garden by Edouard Manet
"Gathering Fruit" after Gathering Fruit by Mary Cassatt
"Bread's Lament" after Boy with Basket of Fruit by an unknown American artist
"After the Fire" after Ruined Farm by Hubert Robert
"Cow at the Gate" after Landscape with Open Gate by Pieter Molijin
"I Am the Plate" after Still Life with Milk Jug and Fruit by Paul Cezanne
"Courtship (According to the Cat)" by Winslow Homer
"Courage" after Planting Corn by Stanley Mazur
"Orchard Barber Shop" after Gardener Pruning a Tree by Jacques Callot
"Gardener's Companion" after The Watering Can by Georges Seurat
Today's poem is inspired by "Strawberry Basket" by William Spiecker. I wasn't sure what to do with this image until I played around with it for a while. It's such a simple image... compelling in its nakedness. The more I looked at it, the more I knew this basket was brave and confident. I decided to give it a voice.



Strawberry Basket

Call me empty
or call me full

say I'm interesting,
say I'm dull.

I know who I am.
I know what I'm for:

I carry strawberries.

In holding
I am held.

I need nothing more.

- Irene Latham



1 comment:

Your thoughts?