Five Paintings by Georgia O'Keefe

by Howard A. Landman


Blue Flower [1918]

This gentle swelling holds gold, but beyond
arched blue petals something seems to await.
I am rather fond of the sensitive frond,
But still, I would walk through that gate.

Black Hollyhock Blue Larkspur [1930]

We leave the larkspur's royal blue
To swim in waves of brownish ink;
Drawn onward by the glowing star
That fivefold shines in green and pink.

Bella Donna [1939]

A cloudy chaos of turbulent form
The smooth of the sea can barely be seen
But the central secret, like the eye of a storm,
lies safe in its circle of green.

Bear Lake, New Mexico [1930]

Dead tree stands
    tall as the living
    grey as a ghost
Almost black where it touches
    the cold starry sky
Almost white where it kisses
    the ground it loved most.

Horse's Skull with White Rose [1931]

Long and pointed,
jagged broken nose,
bleached bone on jet black:
what could be brighter?
The brain will never come back,
but, as if magically anointed,
from its crown there grows
something living, unfolding, and whiter.

Georgia O'Keefe Museum, Santa Fe, October 22nd 2004.


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©2004 Howard A. Landman / howard@polyamory.org
Last updated 2004 Nov 4