Category: Paintings that Inspired the Poems

For many years, this bright yet foreboding carnival scene hung in my childhood bedroom. My mother applied the paint with a palette knife, slashing black

A goose struggles in the grip of a haggard old woman. With hollow eyes and enormous hooked nose, she might be a witch. In “Old

When assigned to paint a self-portrait for an art class, my mother made this nightmarish collage. A serpent, fabric patterns, flames, and octopus arms swirl

As a child, I didn’t know what to make of my mother’s wild brush strokes. She didn’t title this painting, so the subject is a

…like a sun storm— like an Olympic medal—like Pompeii— like Pompeii before lava made love groan beneath the weight of heat— So begins a poem