Psyche jarred by uninvited suitors
lips forced upon hers.
Anger fired pistons,
burned her soul.
Robot hand slaps on lipstick.
Innocent coral-pink and sweet rose swipes
turned crude in thick crimson slashes.
Dead autumn brown beside and above
brackish burgundy smears.
She mouths defeat.
Written for dVerse, the virtual pub for poets around the globe. Today is Quadrille Monday and De asks us to use the word (or a form of the word) “jar” within our poem of exactly 44 words, sans title.
I’m delighted to be back, writing again, after taking a month+ hiatus when we were traveling. Somehow I ended up writing a rather maudlin poem for today.
Today’s quadrille is motivated by Irving Penn’s photo entitled Mouth, taken/produced in New York in 1986. It’s one photo of many that we saw in the exhibit, Fragile Beauty: Photographs from the Sir Elton John and David Furnish Collection, at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
lillian the home poet 
Good to have you back Lillina. Love the title, shades of dead autumn brown and the emotional hill of anger and defeat.
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Good to be back. Travel is wonderful but coming home is always the best! 🙂
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Welcome back, Lill! I love the use of colour in this poem to hint at unsavoury situations and unwanted attention.
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Thanks so much, Kim. Always good to get back home!
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It’s lovely to have you back!
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WOW! What a striking, stunning visual, Lil. Both the photograph and the poem. Excellent ekphrastic work.
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Glad you enjoyed! The photographic exhibit was amazing….huge and so diverse in subject matter. Quite a collection.
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Welcome back, Lillian. Potent symbolism going on there.
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Good to be home 🙂
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🙂
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BLAMMO Good, L! Thanks & welcome back!
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Thanks, Ron. Glad you like it. And although I love travel, it’s always good to get back home.
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Great job! A pleasurable build up to the ‘point’.
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Thank you!
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She is one unhappy camper. Excellent writing, Lillian!
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She sure is….but has had a very rough go of it.
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Welcome back! I can feel the tension in your word choices and that photo smacks with color.
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Thanks! I do love travel but it’s always good to get back home!
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There is a sense of dissociation in this which fits perfectly.
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I was just so enamored when I saw this photo…..took a pic of it knowing I’d use it for some kind of poem. Turned into a “dark” poem…but the pen takes you where it takes you!
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Oh wow, Lillian. This is powerful 💄💋
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Thank you!
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My pleasure
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Welcome back, Lillian! That is an amazing photo and your ekphrastic is so compelling.
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I love Irving Penn’s work and this is a worthy inspiration from it Lillian, not to turn away from the dark is brave…
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You’re back with a bang, Lillian!
That’s a disturbing photo, and your poetic response is perfect.
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oh my! The word imagery matches the photo. Wowed. Jarred me, really.
thanks for sharing. Stunning
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Terrifying. In all support and empathy I have, I still am not able to fully realise what it must be like. The first and second line certainly set the tone, and the “Robot hand.”
Must look up “maudlin” as I think I took more from your verse than that, and see it as a part of a very difficult feminine existence In this world.
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A strong evocative write.
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