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| Florida flowers...what kind? I don't know! |
Y'all, it's February! I know many don't care for February, but it's my favorite month. And this (leap) year we get an extra day to be kind and tell people we love that we love them and give flowers and walk in the woods and eat chocolate and and and.... Woohoo!
Today's ArtSpeak: FOLK ART poem is an identity poem. I have written quite a lot of identity poems over the years! No surprise, really, as poetry is often a place for self-discovery. And how much fun is it to play with those words "I am" ??
The art is by reclusive Alabama folk artist Sybil Gibson. I was immediately drawn to all those faces, and how fragile and dreamy they appear...and to the artist's struggle between wanting to be seen and wanting to NOT be seen. Thanks so much for reading!
I am sky with a thousand faces
I am a shoal of cloudsI swirl birds
and currents
I am not hiding
I am here,
waiting
I rise I set I dream
I am a squall
of stars
please look up
Cheers for "shoal of clouds" cloaking you & your tasty fun 2nd Month of the Year Celebration.
ReplyDeleteSweet Frangipani Flowers is what I think your lovely image shares from The Land of Flowers, Sweet Irene.
Glad for your tropic travel, if that's the source...
I went back and read your identity poems and enjoyed them very much (again). I've never tried writing an identity poem using a piece of art, but you've inspired me to try it. Thank you for the inspiration!
ReplyDeleteThis is fascinating, Irene! Both the poem and the artwork. I love, "I swirl birds and currents."
ReplyDeleteI love these words most: shoal, swirl, squall, stars. Beautiful, beautiful alliteration.
ReplyDeleteYes, I noticed all those sweet /s/ words too. Beautiful word choice throughout. And I loved the ending so much. It gave me added hope--"please look up"
ReplyDeleteI am sky -- thousand faces -- look up... I will walk in February with these reminders. Thank you, Irene.
ReplyDeleteOh "a squall of stars" yes! I thought about you last weekend. I was in the National Portrait Gallery and the American Art Museum in DC and we spent some time looking through the folk art. Just lovely.
ReplyDeleteAll of the sounds in this poem are so delicious! I will heed Sky's call and tip my chin up ever chance I get!
ReplyDeleteI love thinking about and seeing snow squalls. Now I will look for and imagine a squall of stars. Thank you, Irene.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of "self-portrait as" poems, and this one sidles in quietly. "I am not hiding"; you just have to know where to look!
ReplyDeleteThe voice of your poem, dreamy like the art, Irene, such a wonderful image to remember. Love that excited call to "look up". Happy Weekend!
ReplyDeleteShoal and squall are magnificent words for these splotchy painted faces. The I am form lives on and on.
ReplyDeleteSquall of stars. So very lovely, Irene. As well as that bittersweet longing of "Please look up."
ReplyDelete"I am a squall of stars" oooh. How lovely! What a fascinating painting and your poem captures so much of the tension within it--that tug you mention between seen and not-be-seen.
ReplyDeleteI love that this piece of art inspired you to write about the sky. I was seeing something more haunting, but then, perhaps that's because I don't love February. :D
ReplyDelete"please look up" ❤️ I promise I will! :)