Never Prim #tankatuesday

Portrait of Lady Agnew of Lochnaw (1865-1932) by John Singer Sargent, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Never Prim

Prim

Not she

Reposed so

Raising eyebrows

She flouts decorum

A curve of thigh exposed

Draped like silk upon her chair

She dares me to risk her boldness

My paintbrush craves her devil may care

Spellbound, I tarry, swayed by temptation

The authenticity of her essence

Her rebuff of feminine bindings

My colors bow to her allure

A force to be reckoned with

She teases with her smile

My intrepid muse

Her brazen gaze

Scandalous

Never

Prim

Isn’t this an amazing piece of art? To me, Lady Agnew’s posture and expression convey a dauntless challenge to acknowledge her power, her being. I wondered what the artist thought. Did he expect a woman properly dignified, stiff, and prim? Did he love her dare as much as she?

I love these Ekphrastic challenges. Ekphrastic poetry is written in response to a piece of art. Colleen chose this prompt after seeing it on Rebecca Budd’s blog: Chasing Art.

I wrote a stacked/double etheree, which is comprised of twenty lines with a syllable count per line of 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10, 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1. This poem looks like a diamond.

To read more responses to the challenge, learn about syllabic poetry, or submit your own poem, stop by Colleen’s blog: Wordcraft Poetry.