Contemplating.

Contemplating.
Wayzata, Minnesota

Monday, August 13, 2012

The Mag 130

THE MAG






Image by - Francesca Woodman


A Camera Looking Back

Your beating-heart
Tense as a countdown

Infused by a mind too terrible,
for your survival.

Through throes of deceit
You moan like a coyote in heat.

Bursting out of one’s own shell-
is hard to do.

Too many shells lie in wait
I watched you
Carrying one under arm
Assembling- your strength.

Bankrupted hearts
and pushy ambitious tongues
weaving cobwebs across
your spongy soul.
Confusion penetrated
the heavens around you
So bold, yet so restless you.

Stripping yourself of worldly things
Thriving nakedly to be alive.

It seemed you’d grown a bit taller-
another misguided thought.

Death
Crossed the threshold
The fan overhead
Twirls on
Even as you do not.


The almost all Black and White artist, Francesca Woodman, committed suicide on January 19, 1981 at the vibrantly young age of 22. 

Perhaps she was born too early.  Imagine her brilliance blossoming for the first time in the art world of today?
She'd probably be at the opening.


“One day at a time--this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering.” ~Unknown


Photo theme by
Tess Kincaid
for
Magpie Tales

to join in go here





27 comments:

darlin said...

Karen your writing is amazing. I love how one photo can take over the imagination and you my dear have a way of putting your thoughts so eloquently into words. Well done!

Tragic about the young lady who shot this photo, the poor girl never even gave herself a chance to live before she chose to end it all. The real journey begins after 40 I believe, for me that's when it began and a lot of my female friends say the same.

I often wonder why this is, I guess we finally start paying attention, or have time to pay attention, to our inner selves. Once the children start getting older we have time for reflection and far more often than not we start to hear out mothers words come out of our mouths! I think mothers are on to something... I really do! lol

Have a wonderful week!

Saucy Siciliana said...

So sad!

Helen said...

... 'bursting out of one’s own shell-
is hard to do' ~~

I also wonder what might have been for this talented young woman .. another time, another place.

21 Wits said...

Helen, Absolutely, her parents must be thinking this every single day.

21 Wits said...

Francesca, it surely is. Thanks for stopping by! and the follow!

Leovi said...

Exquisite, I like this poem.
Saludos.

Leovi said...

Exquisite, I like this poem.

Brian Miller said...

you def capture the difficult emotions of it...it is hard to break out the shell...and there are so many shells....she lived a hard story...

Daydreamertoo said...

This reminds me of Vincent, the song about Van Gogh. Maybe the world was never meant for one as beautiful as she, either. 22 is an age that has hardly begun to live and yet, she must have thought herself done with it all.
This is truly beautiful poetry.
Sad, gentle, poignant, A lovely, tragic, read.

Cat or Dog said...

Karen. You deserve huge kudos for tacking the assignment so literally. You also captured the artist's suffering with acute sensitivity and handled it well as a poem.

If I'm not mistaken, there is also a pretty funny line in there about growing taller, perhaps related to her head being out of frame?

I liked it

Scarlet said...

I like the details of breaking out of the shell and being nakedly alive ~ Your last stanza is great ~

Jenny Woolf said...

Full of difficult emotion - but good

Berowne said...

Well written, and quite moving...

Cloudia said...

A moving post!



Aloha from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
<(-'.'-)>

> < } } ( ° >

> < } } (°>

><}}(°>

Unknown said...

You have written a sensitive response to a horrible tragedy that leaves so many questions floating. I love that you could see she was "Infused by a mind too terrible for your (her) survivial." I think that too. Thanks, Karen for sharing this.

Silent Otto said...

Hey Karen , i like this , it is very " Apocalypse Now" , this young woman had Scorpio on the ascendant, with Neptune parked in there for good measure, like so many of these types, she went " missing at sea" , or like Colonel Kurtz, disappeared up the river , never to be seen again , they seem to be among the most creative, and the most tragic. Vale .

21 Wits said...

Cat or dog- Yes, but kind of two fold, her head is gone, but also in her life after she hit total bottom, she was getting better or so they thought. They dropped their guard, when she probably needed them most of all, right then.

21 Wits said...

Cat or dog, thank you for such an awesome comment!

21 Wits said...

Kutamun, Thanks, and you are so right, nicely put!

rel said...

suicide; hard to understand for most of us.
Artists try to convey the feeling with their work and you have helped reveal the message.
rel

Unknown said...

When I first saw that picture, I thought, "Is that what I think it is?" This was confirmed upon closer inspection, and now I've got a headache on account of my wife thinking that I was just being a dirty old man again. YOUR FAULT!!!

Anonymous said...

karen, what a beautiful heart and mind. for me this poem speaks to having strength despite the world's negativity.

thank you.

Kathe W. said...

wonderful poetry- she was such a talented artist- tragic

Adura Ojo said...

Sad that she took her own life.

Nakedly alive...it is worth aspiring to, certainly.

Intelliblog said...

Beautiful poem capturing the intriguing mystery of the photo.

Little Nell said...

You've epitomised the tragedy of this artist's so brief life here Karen. I loved the opening lines with the heart 'counting down' to the moment when she took her own ife. A very perceptive poem.

The Blog of Bee said...

Brilliant. Exquisite. Sad, so very sad.