Georgia O’Keeffe: The Bones & The Blue

You know what's awesome? Ekphrastic poetry. Here at Floodmark, we're all about exploring an interdisciplinary study of creative writing. Which is why we created Weekend Whimsy prompts this past National Poetry Month. This week, I want to share a Georgia O'Keeffe painting and quote to inspire your writing. Let me preface this with....

Georgie O'Keeffe is weird. 

Her work challenges the reader on primal and intellectual levels. It is profoundly strange and painfully self-aware and incredibly beautiful. What more could you ask of your art? 

The Painting:

Pelvis with the Distance, 1943
by Georgia O'Keeffe
(source)

The Quote:

Sun-bleached bones were most wonderful against the blue
- that blue that will always be there as it is now after 

all man's destruction is finished.

(Georgia O'Keeffe)

The Artist: 

Normally I don't share a picture of the artist, but I found this while using the Google-machine, and wow. It's magnetic. I don't know what I'm more captivated by: her eyes or her hands. Her gaze silences the voice in your head and strips you down to the same vulnerability she shows in this photograph. 

To me, that makes sense. Primal and intellectual stimuli are all muddled together in Georgia O'Keeffe's work.

Georgia O'Keeffe, 1918
Taken by Alfred Stieglitz
(source)

The Prompt:

Write a poem with imagery that includes the following elements: 

• The color blue. 
• Bones. 
• Hands. 
• A destruction. 

And that's it! You might try free-writing on each of these elements to see what kinds of imagery you can come up with. Take inspiration from the artwork and words provided in this blog post if you're stuck. 

Happy writing!