“Precisionist” She learned the geometry first from painting skyscrapers, mathematics clean and focused like a camera lens -- hers was a world void of condition, social or human, and soon danced the abstractions in front of her unblinking eye. Each winter, a pilgrim to New Mexico, she yearned to see the forest inside the desert of bleached bone trees; eighty years ago, she stared at the mountain outside her window and found the lioness, one eye open toward the people inching closer but herself a body, at rest.
I ran across two paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe"s: The Mountain, New
Mexico (1931) and Cow's Skull, with Calico Roses (1931) --
and read up about her. She was dubbed the "precisionist" which is
where the title comes from; Luckily she fits in to the "girl" theme this
month :)
yes, i knew it was her…what a wonderful poem, Devi. I love the totality of the world of her vision, the multiple ways to read “danced” in
. . . hers
was a world void of condition, social
or human, and soon danced the abstractions
in front of her unblinking eye.
who or what is the lioness, I wonder? gay girl in me wants to read it “queer,” but I’m sure that’s not the reference 🙂
🙂
the lioness — well, i looked at the painting of “the mountain, new mexico” and it looked like a lioness face; but really she’s looking at the mountain and seeing herself