Painting with Words by Bill Waters

Portrait of Dora Maar, by Pablo Picasso, 1939.

Painting with Words: Pablo Picasso’s Portrait of Dora Maar, 1939
 
Your abstract nose is a shotgun, Dora, and
your left eye stares straight down the barrels
 
at me. But your Guernica eyes are distant and blank.
Two eyes and that thousand-yard stare . . . or
 
one eye times two? Picasso did you no favor! He
split your face down the middle — a Siamese cyclops.
 
Your hair is a helmet, your clothing plate armor,
and one face is heavily guarded. But one face is
 
open. To him? My God, certainly not to
your rivals! To whom, then? To what?
 
Stormy, defiant, sad Dora Maar.

Bill Waters

Known primarily for his Japanese-style micropoetry, Bill Waters also writes ekphrastic poetry, found verse, book spine poetry, light verse, and all manner of short prose. More of his writing can be found at his blog Bill Waters ~~ Haiku (http://bit.ly/145diBy) and his “blog-within-a-blog” Bill Waters ~~ NOT Haiku (http://bit.ly/1NZSyRo). Bill lives in Pennington, New Jersey, U.S.A., with his wife and three cats.