A Ramble on the Painting Who’s Afraid of Vanessa Bell? by Pennie Brantley (1985), by Mike Goodwin

Who's Afraid of Vanessa Bell? by Pennie Brantley (USA) 1985

A Ramble on the Painting Who’s Afraid of Vanessa Bell? by Pennie Brantley (1985)
 
The empty chair in the empty room is like my mind lately. Emptiness upon emptiness. It’s not enough to not be in the empty room – I must not be sitting in the empty chair. Maybe the robe signifies my having been there and gone. Maybe it wasn’t even me. Maybe it was what I wanted it to be. A mind devoid of any substance or pain, empty of emotion or confusion. A world ready to be filled with laughter and understanding. So much promise but not until the room is cleaned out. Maybe the robe signifies my shell trying to hang on. Trying to maintain my presence in the room – in the world – in my mind. I want to furnish the room with bright objects, interesting artifacts, happy people, my younger self. But when I look into my catalog all I find is broken furniture, rusty fixtures, torn drapes. A life well lived but now in need of serious repair. I don’t know if I’ll make it back to that chair but I know it will wait for me. Always sitting in the empty room that is my mind, my life. We all have our chairs and our rooms. We try to use them as they were meant to be used. We don’t always succeed and we always get older but the chair is always there in the room, not wanting to be empty.

Mike Goodwin

Mike Goodwin is a retired high school mathematics teacher who  recently became interested in writing poetry as a result of attending workshops on ekphrastic writing at the local art museum.