artist is a dirty word, devalued, disgusting.
no matter what, i am an artist
wasting paint
consuming perfection to churn out pollution.
my muses are more divine than i am.
i want to be like them, so i make something
that falls just short.
i create to speak the language of personhood:
wanting to live past my inherited sin.
artists don’t really live on through their works,
they’re a footnote.
irises
by van gough—always one step lower.
let me live beyond this life
seal me in a golden frame,
mount me on a marble wall,
nail me to a torture stake,
anything.
muses come in different fashions—
one of them is captured in thick brush strokes
on a stretched canvas. another is absorbed
through a moment in time
with a mechanical iris dilating like the photographer’s eye
to seal in baby’s breath speckling
my dark flowing hair against
petal-white skin.
he doesn’t paint me pictures.
i exist in film
delicate like my life, but possible to preserve.
the camera blinks for him
so he does not have to let me out of his sight.
i can be the woman scantily clad
with hair acting as censors and bathed in
rose petals, milk, and honey.
i can live in blurry candid photos
with astigmatism lights like angel eyes looking at me.
i finally get to live as the picture-perfect muse goddess
i’ve been trying to paint for all these years.
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141,378 Literary Works • 674,383 Reviews
Hello there, human! I'm reviewing using the YWS S'more Method today!
Shalt we commence with the scary S’more?
Top Graham Cracker - The artist makes things that are glorious to the human eye, but in the end, they are still filled with anguish and no one will listen because they’d rather see the pretty things in front of them than the sadness that lurks behind it.
Slightly Burnt Marshmallow - I have no recommendations to make as of right now, but if you would like to edit this, you may.
Chocolate Bar - I like that the artist feels inadequate to what they create, because people love the art that exists but seldom the human being behind it. I also like that more romanticized parts of them are preserved in film and in paint, to make everything seem more poetic, because don’t all of us artists love to make things poetry?
Closing Graham Cracker - Overall, a lovely poem about the artist and the art. I have enjoyed reading this and found this to be very relatable. I’ll remember to read your other works sometime and…
I wish you a beautiful day/night! ^v^
Greetings FireEyes!
Itsssssssss POETRY TIME! EEEEEK
ok so
LOVED 💖💖...
- The alliteration of “dirty, devalued, disgusting” and how the speaker is proud to be an artist regardless of how they’re viewed [by society?]
- Muses: It’s extremely relatable how the speaker feels they can never entirely encapsulate their muses.
I interpreted this as if the speaker was some sort of artist (either a painter or a poet) and they were having difficulty trying to capture their inspiration or what they were trying to convey through their form of art. I feel like we all try our best, and some forms of art or certain words may hit harder, but some things and experiences are incomparable or indescribable in some way.
Another thing from your poem I enjoyed was the reference (at the beginning of the fourth stanza) to how muses can quite literally be anything!
Such simple, ordinary-seeming things and experiences can inspire amazing works of art and poetry; it’s honestly really astonishing! Like literally a housefly could be irritating you in your home, or experiencing the joy of a newborn baby, as you mentioned later on, and both could also inspire some form of art.
"Footnote":
The metaphor about artists being the “footnote” of their works hit hard…I don’t know if I quite understand it even now, but it feels so deep for lack of a better word 🤭. Maybe it means that even artists sometimes don’t understand the full magnitude of their work? Or that artists are just a side character/promoter for admiring life and creations? Honestly not sure!
Hmm 🤔:
The only part I was slightly confused on is the ending. In these lines:
Is the speaker referring to how they want to forever live as a newborn baby to better capture or even be a muse? I might've like entirely missed the point of this part but hey...there's beauty in not understanding poetry, right 😅😅?
Anyways, wonderful poem! I love how this captures artists' conflicting feelings about trying to encapsulate real-life experiences or even just forms of life through words and colored paintbrush strokes, with the nagging feeling that their work is possibly unworthy of the muse, the wonder they are describing! This is honestly a really good idea for all artists to reflect on!
keep writing and God bless!
😸😸😸😸😸
I personally saw the footnote part as people don't really take time to notice who created the art and they end up as a footnote of something made by their very essence which is very much a part of the artist yet people don't take time to notice who it was that created it most of the time (UNLESS THEIR FAMOUS! But most people are not famous) so I found that line sorrowful. I like your interpretation of it too though!
ohhh ok thank you for the explanation..I sorta get it