Vermeer, by Casey Elizabeth Newbegin

Woman in Blue Reading a Letter, Johannes Vermeer (Netherlands), 1663-1664.

​Vermeer
 
The soft heaviness of a woman is
the exceptional darkness
inside a round blue cup.
 
It’s so strange. Black folds into
her skirt, shadowed back,
trailing bedsheet
 
Maybe it’s not a map at all,
just liquid geologic patterns
cut with spiderweb cracks.
 
The brass rivets hold the upholstery
to the wood and she holds the room
like an egg cup atlas.

Casey Elizabeth Newbegin

Casey Elizabeth Newbegin lives and writes in Brooklyn, NY, where she works in art restoration. She has a BA in English from Lewis & Clark College and an MS in Information Studies from UT Austin. She is the author of the chapbook Northern California Lightning Series and her work has previously appeared in Off the Coast, Windfall, Plainsongs, and The Sandy River Review.