Model in the Artist's Studio, 1928 This model is zaftig, even hefty by today’s standards, fleshy thighs, round belly, ample curves. Bottom heavy as a ripe pear. But she is bien dans sa peau, doesn’t go to Weight Watchers, had a café crème this morning, broke her croissant into small pieces, dabbed it with confiture d’abricot, little bits of sun. She took pleasure in the moment. So when Dufy posed her, arms behind her head, solid hips jutting right, there she was, delectable as an oyster, ready to be consumed. And here we are in our imperfect flesh, the dimpled arms, the parts that jiggle, the great softening, as we succumb to gravity, our last lover. So let’s raise our arms above our heads, let the world see the pudding bowl our bellies have become. These hips have carried babies, these thighs have walked many miles. This is it; it’s not going to get any better. So let’s stand in the cool light of this blue room naked as the day we were born. Let’s tip our breasts to the sun, and love our unairbrushed surgically unaltered exquisite bodies for what they are: the houses that we live in. Barbara Crooker This poem was first published in Barbara Crooker's book, Les Fauves (C&R Press, 2017). Barbara Crooker is the author of eight books of poetry; Les Fauves (C&R Press, 2017) is the most recent. Her work has appeared in many anthologies, including The Poetry of Presence and Nasty Women: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse, and she has received a number of awards, including the WB Yeats Society of New York Award, the Thomas Merton Poetry of the Sacred Award, and three Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Creative Writing Fellowships. Her website is www.barbaracrooker.com
0 Comments
Your comment will be posted after it is approved.
Leave a Reply. |
The Ekphrastic Review
COOKIES/PRIVACY
This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies. Opt Out of CookiesJoin us: Facebook and Bluesky
July 2025
|