Whispers In Porcelain

Painted Ladies ~ Jennifer MacNeil

Whispers of yesterday
cling to the paint
in porcelain curls.

Faces once admired
and captured in art
are now lost to anonymity.

Brooches sturdier than bones
have survived beauty’s death
only to lie among a collector’s questions.


©Susie Clevenger 2013

At Real Toads Margaret Bednar provided the beautiful photography of Jennifer Mac Neil as inspiration for our poetry. Please visit her webpage to see more of her outstanding work, Jennifer MacNeil Photography

 Artistic Interpretations With Margaret ~ Jennifer MacNeil

Comments

Sherry Blue Sky said…
Very cool response to the prompt...likely the wearers, too, as well as the ones who sat for the artist, are gone.
December 7, 2013 at 11:25 AM
myownheart.me said…
very beautiful and so true.
December 7, 2013 at 11:28 AM
humbird said…
Well, at least broaches survived...our artifacts for beauty collection ~ interesting thought for this art...maybe a new story will starts from the question of the collector? :)
December 7, 2013 at 11:39 AM
Billy Blue Eyes said…
Beautiful works so well with the Broach.
I've written a verse have a look and pass comment.
http://spudsdailyphoto.blogspot.co.uk/
December 7, 2013 at 2:18 PM
Ella said…
You ending leaves us wondering! I love it~ Your words pair so beautifully with the photo~
December 7, 2013 at 6:18 PM
Susie Swanson said…
Love this Susie. Hugs
December 7, 2013 at 6:44 PM
Helen said…
... 'brooches sturdier than bones' ~~ I'm reminded of how fragile a few of my elderly aunts seemed to me as a child. I enjoyed this!!
December 7, 2013 at 6:49 PM
Unknown said…
Loooove how Brooches are sturdier than bones! How the objects of our past tend to last longer than we do. wow.
December 7, 2013 at 8:43 PM
Anonymous said…
They had some value once but now are just collectibles of money value(irony). :-)
Thoughtful writing.
-HA
December 8, 2013 at 1:33 AM
blueoran.wordpress.com said…
Great little poem here, right-sized for as a tiny portrait caught in the amber of a brooch ... You're absolutely right, something even outlive the ideal of beauty. Very fine polished work here, something to keep sifting and questioning over in the years to come. - Brendan
December 8, 2013 at 7:46 AM
hedgewitch said…
You get to the heart of the pathos of possessions, how we infuse them with our own meanings, and how they seem to carry something of us, even if only in the random way we've selected them. And someone else's treasures are so barren without the collector's attachment. Compact and very vivid, Susie.
December 8, 2013 at 8:38 AM
Fireblossom said…
Now there's an interesting perspective. The trinkets celebrating someone's beauty outlive the beauty and even the person themselves.
December 8, 2013 at 6:05 PM
Siggi in Downeast Maine said…
I like your take on the prompt...
personal and with possible insight to the owners.
Thank you.
Peace
Siggi
December 8, 2013 at 8:10 PM
Margaret said…
Yes! I so wanted to write to this one, but it wouldn't come - not yet. I tried to dig up some history of a great great (maybe another great) aunt who painted miniatures and has a piece in the Smithsonian or someplace like that. She had a small revamped cottage by the ocean in the northeast - I dug up an OLD newspaper article about her.

Yes, they were treasures back then, and very few have a story that remains intact - Perfect poem!
December 10, 2013 at 2:58 PM
Hannah said…
Mysterious antiquity...your tone is perfect, Susie!
December 10, 2013 at 7:28 PM
Kerry O'Connor said…
Brooches sturdier than bones... What an excellent image, Susie.
December 14, 2013 at 8:01 AM
Post a Comment