What I Want, an ekphrastic poem by Dawn Promislow, WordCity Monthly January 2021 Issue5
“Mobile garden dress” by Nicole Dextras, as seen in installation at Todmorden Mills, Toronto, July 2014.
What I want
What i want to know is, yellow lady, light midsummer light
yes you, yellow-skirt
dandelion, lionness
potted pothead
on Pottery Road
potting pots
potting about lady
skirting there
yes, you
mellow yellow-dappled hoop
under pleated wear
bodice bodied
basket-boned, pot-bellied pot
how many children under there
madame, my dame?
i want to know how many children
under skirts
under wear
wasp-waisted yet
earthen-ware mother
potted mum
yellow mums
mum's nasturtiums, you say?
i jus'
want to know wish to know
bee-crowned
begowned
(earth-skirt)
ravish
you
Dawn Promislow is the author of Jewels and Other Stories (Mawenzi House, 2010), which was long-listed for the Frank O’Connor International Short Story Award 2011, and named one of the 8 best fiction debuts of 2011 by The Globe and Mail. She has a novel forthcoming in 2022. She lives in Toronto.
An Internet-based Word Arts Culture and Writers Center- Archiving theme-based Digital Poetry Collections , Profiling Iconic Poets, Exhibiting Legendary Writers and Hallowed Artists .The Center hosts and publishes Word City Monthly(an Internationally acclaimed , a multi-genre monthly, publishing flash fiction, poetry, short fiction, folktales, book reviews, interviews, literary arts news and global opportunities. Word City Monthly is headed and edited by the highly versatile and profoundly spirited storytelling revolutionary, Commonwealth Prize nominated Canadian Author Darcie Friesen Hossack This Center is founded on the values of promoting word culture , diversity of writing ideas, dialogue, literary arts exchange and cultural and racial tolerance among other matters. TIME OF POET REPUBLIC was founded by UNESCO-RILA Affiliate ARTIST. Freedom of Speech Fellow PEN-Zentrum Deutschland, 2019 African Fellow (ihraf.org/international-fellows). September 2020 University of Glasgow Creative Writing Programme Guest Poet/Discussant. Author of LETTER to the President(2019) and acclaimed Literary Arts Activism Projects Diplomatie, Mbizo CHIRASHA.
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One thought on “What I Want, an ekphrastic poem by Dawn Promislow, WordCity Monthly January 2021 Issue5”
Very creative. Thanks for sharing it.
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