Values, by Amy Baskin

Talia's Bouquet, by Talia Baskin (USA). Contemporary.

Values

I don't even have to be in the 
centre of the picture for anyone
recognize what I'm about
witness the power of my spare Zorn palette

cadmium red yellow ochre
titanium white and Payne's grey
bachelor buttons bleed into tulip
scapes with a dominant beckoning blade

a thin wash of wan atmosphere
steps away from my optically blended petals
my impasto stamen
elegant dishevelment

haphazard confidence
nothing else on the table matters
not even the table itself
only the brown shadow of an afterthought

Amy Baskin
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Amy Baskin’s work is featured in What Rough Beast, Fire Poetry Journal, The Ghazal Page, Postcards, Poetry & Prose, Dirty Chai, Panoply, Riddled With Arrows, and more.  She is a 2016 Willamette Writers Kay Snow Poetry award recipient for her poem “About Face.”