Unknown, but Recognizable, by Julia Rocchi

Unknown, but Recognizable
a response to an unidentified print found long ago in a dusty art shop
​

Her yellow bow flopping,
Dressed only in drawers,
She shocks the three girls
Who watch her from shore.

Her slash of a scowl
Beneath a red bob
Affirms their opinion:
Unladylike slob.

She wades in the breakers;
They’re far from such sin.
Her arms act as ballast;
Their censure, the wind.

But unlike the trio
Who all turn away,
The watery sprite
Defiantly plays.

So hers is the face shown
Reflected on sea
And hers the two eyes
That beckon just me

To pluck the shrunk print
From the shopkeeper’s mess
And take home the one
Who couldn’t care less.

Julia Rocchi

Julia Rocchi writes prose, poetry, prayers, and picture books. She holds an MA in Writing (Fiction) from Johns Hopkins University. Her  fiction has appeared in Mulberry Fork Review, and her poetry has appeared in Ekphrastic Review and the anthology Unrequited: Love Letters to Inanimate Objects. Julia lives in Arlington, Virginia, with her husband.

Editor's note: The Ekphrastic Review is sorry to break the spell this mystery print had on the poet by identifying it! The painting was called "The Water's Fine," by American impressionist Edward Potthast. The work's date is not known, but the artist lived from 1857-1927.