Modigliani Knew Them All, by Michelle Reale

Portrait of a Polish Woman, by Amedeo Modigliani (Italy) 1919

Modigliani Knew Them All
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I noted the dolorous length of the face.  The tilt of the  delicate head as if in confusion or doubt.  The hands placed demurely, though restlessly on the thigh bones. The thighs are covered in the coarse fabric of the sensible or the poor. The mouth is small with a confusion of muscles animating the appearance of misgiving, sadness. The jet black hair like a raven before flight. I recognized my foremother, in fact, all of my foremothers in her eyes. Modigliani knew them all, by each feature their passions, terrors, regrets and insincerities.  With his brush he fashioned from a woman from paint who speaks to me across generations and time.  A woman who he would immortalize on canvas,  to be venerated and adored, though she be created in ambiguity  and forever nameless. 

Michelle Reale

Michelle Reale is the author of several poetry collections, including Season of Subtraction (Bordighera Press, 2019)  Blood Memory (Idea Press, 2021)   In the Year of Hurricane Agnes (Alien Buddha Press, 2023).  She is the Founding and Managing Editor for both OVUNQUE SIAMO: New Italian-American Writing and The Red Fern Review.