​Georgia O’Keeffe Made Rubble Out of Me, by Alyssa Sineni

Photograph of Georgia O'Keeffe, by Alfred Stieglitz (USA) 1933.

​Georgia O’Keeffe Made Rubble Out of Me
The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum - Santa Fe, New Mexico
 
Maybe it was holy, the edge of the petal

the way it curved, rippling outward 
as if it were a blessing.
 
And the fragrance
it would crush me for its sweetness
with its softness
break my bones to dust.
 
You know, she could shatter walls with just her gaze.
Oh yes, she could be defiant
with her hat tipped to the sky like a dark moon.

But did you see her in the garden

did you see the black iris of her eye?

Vulnerability, was always her strength.
And I felt something 

like oceans 
waves forming

breaking, rising free.

Alyssa Sineni

Alyssa Sineni is a metalsmith and writer. She is a member of The Pittsburgh Poetry Exchange, The Craftsmen’s Guild of Pittsburgh, and she works as the Director of Programming for Art and Inspiration, a non-profit, which celebrates artists and writers. Ms. Sineni holds a BFA from The State University College at Buffalo and a BA in Spanish Language from Slippery Rock University. She has had four poems published in Soul-Lit and has been published in Hot Metal Press, and Uppagus.

Black Iris, by Georgia O'Keeffe (USA) 1926.