© Chelsea Bednar, used by permission for this posting only
Broken
Shards of a gender
Picture-imperfect
Fragments of the feminine
Lacking evident wisdom
Made up for a mag
The desperate sound of
duller-colored cardinals
all together, singing a battered blues
Altogether shattered
Smatterings of health care
elusive as dust bunnies,
scattered like crumbs under
the White Man’s table
We long for freedom from
beauty measured in
facial symmetry, not in
the output of our brains
The Divine Sofia calls
The Painted Diva says
leave a message
© 2013 Amy Barlow Liberatore/Sharp Little Pencil
Artistic Interpretations with Margaret, at Imaginary Garden With Real Toads, wanted an ekphrastic piece based on the artwork of the insanely talented Chelsea Bednar, who granted us permission to use her work for this prompt. The challenge was to speak of how the piece made you feel, rather than inhabiting the subject.
This piece spoke to me of women’s declining civil rights today: Denied access to safe, doctor-performed abortion; often refused birth control because “the pharmacy owner doesn’t believe in it.” We are half the species, under attack, including the late, lamented ERA. Look at the picture: The Pale Stale Males took a hammer to this mirror image. Keep your lamps trimmed and burning, sisters. The time is coming when… Peace, Amy
Sharp Little Pencil 
Polly Robinson
I think you met the brief here, Amy, to me it looks as though you’ve spoken of how the piece made you feel, rather than inhabiting the subject.
brian miller
that next to last stanza really carries this for me…our defnitions of beauty are rather disgusting at times and that we use it as a measure of value…sometimes the hardest to overcome are our own definition…
brian miller
interesting too in your interpretation of the image as well in your notes…i agree in the reduction of civil liberties, though i think that it is a broader issue than just women….
Lisa A.Williams
A subject I have often thought about, how the concept of beauty has become so superficial. As you stated there is more to beauty than “facial symmetry”. A very though provoking, lovely poem.
Mama Zen
Preach, girlfriend! Preach!
margaretbednar
Cardinals singing the battered blues… Oh, I want to steal that idea!! I really like the fist two lines, although your explanation (abortion) I can’t agree with … BUT… I understand the discontent with what you perceive to be a woman’s lack of civil rights.
I truly wish women’s beauty standards were more like a mans – character, wit, intelligence, aging… Yes, we’ve “come a long way, baby”… but not far enough. For one thing, the “baby” needs to be dropped 🙂 (remember that old saying?)
Kerry O'Connor
Your lines have a fragmented quality which suits the image you chose very well. Your description of a true face trying to show through is an excellent abstract interpretation.
Susan
Wow, I love this! You got into a political anger–a place I did not go far into my response to the very same image. But I went there a little! Bless you for this great and provocative poem.
ihatepoetry
This poem is an insistent, deliberate political statement WITHOUT being preachy or strident. I agree with the sentiments, esp the last stanza, you woman with a gorgeous mind!
Emma llm calling
we can all have the freedom, it’s just wrestling it from those who wish not to see and hear it
Grace
Powerful words and meaningful as well ~ I can think of a lot more to add to the list, but we need to keep on pounding and shouting it out loud and clear ~
Hannah Gosselin
Love your interpretation, Amy and your second stanza stands out for me a lot…the “battered blues and shattered” this battle of the image disease is a sad one…makes me think of my niece who’s eight…I hope it doesn’t get her. Great work as always!
Helen
I so appreciate you honest reaction to the abstract art … awesome write!
Helen
… so annoying when my finger just skips over the ‘r’ in your.
deanabo
I love this. So much emotion.
Truedessa
I really enjoyed the opening on this one this poem carries a punch. Well done..
coalblack
This is scorching! The blues-singing cardinals and the last bit about leaving a message are superb.
We kind of had the same basic subject in mind for this challenge, Amy, but we went in opposite directions with it!
xo
Coal (Fireblossom)
peggygoetz
Yes, lets hope the time IS coming!! You caught the feel of this work of art well.
Akila
very very powerful….
hedgewitch
Great take on gender stereotyping that we inflict on ourselves, as well as endure what’s applied by others–last lines are killer-perfect.
Kay, Alberta, Canada
Fabulous, Amy! Even though I am no longer capable of being out there on the front lines of women’s rights issues, I’m here in the background, cheering for women like you. It’s so hard to believe we came so far, and are now taking backward steps. What of the future?
Keep up the great work.
K
ellaedge
Wow Amy…we need to rise and stand tall…YOU make me want to march!
So well done and your imagery so guides the fractured view, yet the strength in finding your voice-no matter what the image! We have a voice~ 😀
Sara v
Amy, you excel at beating that drum–I’m ready to step in line, step out of line, stiletto stomp some slimy come on–ready! Love that ending line btw–our images are so distorted, it is one of my own causes for drum beating. 🙂
Misky
Oh such wise words stated so kindly!
claudia
believe it or not…in switzerland, women are only allowed to vote since feb 7, 1971… and the definition of beauty (not only rgd. women) is a huge topic as well
karenfrommentor
I like that the piece without the image is just as powerful.
Timoteo
Get your head together, girl.
janehewey
your images come together wonderfully. i enjoy your closure. really strong message and poetry.
Steve E
Maybe an odd-ball–me–but ever since age 3 (and maybe before that?) I have been attracted first to what is IN the head, rather than ON it…female, of course!
My first real gf, age 8 or 9 and I, age 5, slept together–but didn’t do anything except touch a lot and perspire profusely and make noises. In a hayloft!
I REALIZE this is not your “topic” with which I am mostly in agreement, but you DID conjure memories of my hot–but not-so-beautiful 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc., etc., girl friends. It’s what “farm boys” DO! (It was NEVER sheep or goats!) LOL!
NOTE: Amy, I hope you monitor comments, because you may wish to delete this. OK by me, either way!
FREEDOM FROM BONDAGE!
PEACE!
Pamela
Strong writing, Amelita. The message is perfect for our times.
Saludos,
Pamelita
kelly
You did a great job with it, I felt many of the same things when looking at the artwork.
Beth Winter
I struggle enough to be the me that I’m most comfortable with being without reshaping myself to another image. I love how your poem captures the feeling of the fractured and overlaid image.
Gretchen Leary
Very well said Amy. I wish the world knew the value of true beauty and that you cannot buy it and it isn’t up for us to decide its definition. Everyone has their own, it cannot be borrowed, bought but it can be sold for a horrible price – greed and hate. *sighs* this world is so blind sighted
ninotaziz
Hi Amy,
I am quite a happy person, I work hard at building the family, building a career, building an author’s profile. And so, I often overlook the plights of others, except when tragedy occurs.
Thank you for making me sit down and think this through. What it means for my daughters, my sisters, my granddaughters who are yet to be…
darkangelwrites
I thoroughly despise being judged by my face… yet I sit here with makeup on it?
enthusiasticallydawn
Powerful. All of it…but this evokes something I am pondering:The desperate sound of duller-colored cardinals
all together, singing a battered blues
Altogether shattered…
Oh yes.
Tragic and powerful.
Laurie Kolp
This is so powerful, Amy…
We long for freedom from
beauty measured in
facial symmetry, not in
the output of our brains
… and isn’t that the truth? I also like the stanza with cardinals and blue.
Susie Clevenger (@wingsobutterfly)
So much power in this piece. We are frozen in shattered perceptions. Wonderful piece!