sometimesihatemycat

One mistress
I cannot explain
Why I am haunted these last days
Those eyes have captured me
And coming back to look again
The tilt and shadow of hat on skin
Obscuring furrowed wit, wisdom
A captivating contrast to the pale
Framing sharp dark page-boy hair
Monochrome
Broken by lips
Barely reddened by so slight a grin
Crisp white collar relays
But form under jacket betrays
And those gloves, those clever gloves of grey
Masculine denied by feminine whispers
Feminine shored up by masculine lines
Power in the moment where roles unwind
Surely harsh built formations blur
Blending into the background
Do I want
Her
To be
Her
One mistress
No master

— A.R.

Self Portrait by Romaine Brooks

Reposted, reworked, because I stumbled upon her portrait again and was just as captivated as the first time I saw her.

~ by April on January 7, 2014.

Posted in Body, Identity, Poetry, Women's Issues
Tags: Artist, identity, Painter, painting, poetry, Portrait, Romaine Brooks, Self