Botero (With Elephant) — Courbet (In Verse)
dVerse Poets Pub has a poetics prompt based on Fernando Botero this week (hosted by Victoria C. Slotto.)
I like Botero’s images (one of which I’ve adapted above), but every time I thought of writing a poem about one, I pictured a person being swallowed by their own flesh. Instead I’m opting for an older poem about other (more traditional) flesh-favoring artists:
Courbet
All I can say is that
it’s a good thing we have museums
hanging Courbets,
Rubens,
Rembrandts,
the occasional Italian,
with their depictions of swelling bellies,
dimples gathered around spines, flesh rippling
like Aphrodite’s birth foam,
the creep of pubic hair juxtaposed by coy hands
whose curved digits
pudge, slightly sunken cheeks (above, below),
spidery blood vessels
rooting beneath the patina.
All I can say, as I catch
my face in the glass,
glance down at my folio
of torso, is that
it’s a good thing.
(This is from my collection of poems, Going on Somewhere. Check it out! Also check out my new comic novel–Nose Dive, a fun look at truth, beauty and the pursuit of harmony–available in paperback and on Kindle for just 99 cents!)
Explore posts in the same categories: iPad art, poetry, UncategorizedTags: Courbet poem, Fernando Botero with elephant, Karin Gustafson poetry, manicddaily, Rubens poem
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ManicDDaily 
January 14, 2012 at 9:12 pm
Nice poe, reminding us others who painted corpulent figures. Beauty is a culturally determined mixture of intellect and emotion. Our own cukture’s infatuation with anorexic figures might seem ugly to future gens.
January 14, 2012 at 11:37 pm
oh my….i have seen the ele-butt…haha…nice variation…it is a good thing and so much closer to reality…funny how our views change..and i wonder what it was that was the turning point for that as well…
January 14, 2012 at 11:46 pm
I am so glad you posted this for the prompt. Fun and great illustration.It’s absolutely reminscent of Botero and the poem actually demonstrates his veneration of his European predecessors.
January 15, 2012 at 3:23 am
when i saw the elephant in the familiar painting, i started smiling and i still do..nice variation..and wandering what kind of look will be modern in 100 years from now..smiles
January 15, 2012 at 3:24 am
i meant wondering…
January 15, 2012 at 4:37 am
That’s wonderful, whichever way you look at it. Doubly wonderful for inspiring such a great poem!
January 15, 2012 at 8:34 am
powerful reflecting moment, and i like that idea, rather than comparing ourselfves to art, to see ourselfves as art. really enjoyed this
January 15, 2012 at 8:39 am
Thanks, Woodrow. K.
January 15, 2012 at 2:08 pm
Much as I associate the elephant with a hated political symbol, I’m always charmed by yours, which remind me of Babar and his lovely wife, (who btw, would look gorgeous painted by Courbet, as I’m sure we would, too.) Your descriptive phrases here are vivid, human and expert–liked it on several levels.
January 15, 2012 at 2:38 pm
Thanks–re politics–that’s a problem with elephants. I do draw donkeys too, but they are a bit harder, and although I prefer them, well–they are not wholly sympathetic either.
January 15, 2012 at 2:43 pm
PS – I have an elephant counting book 1 Mississippi for very young children BTW. The text is okay – kind of silly, I guess- but the elephants are pretty good as they are not iPad ones but gouache on paper, a really terrific medium. I am too spoiled by ease of iPad (and time constraints) to do as much gouache and watercolor, but the quality of the line and color is, of course, much better.
Here’s link. http://www.amazon.com/1-Mississippi-Karin-Gustafson/dp/0981992307/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1326656506&sr=8-3
BTW I am happy to send gratis to anyone who sends me their address and expresses interest. This can be done at BackStrokeBooks@gmail.com.
January 15, 2012 at 5:52 pm
I like this:
“dimples gathered around spines, flesh rippling
like Aphrodite’s birth foam,”