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Poetry, and art in general, requires a certain amount of vulnerability, and Fernando Vicente bears it all—uh, no, he doesn’t paint nude self-portraits. But the portraits he does paint do let you see underneath the clothes… AND the skin of the subject.
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Presentimiento
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These internal-organ-bearing paintings, part of his Vanitas series (Vanitas is defined as “a still-life painting of a 17th-century Dutch genre containing symbols of death or change as a reminder of their inevitability”) take ideas of vulnerability and nakedness and fracture them, opening them up to new definitions.
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Interiores
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These paintings might be making you a bit uncomfortable (if you’re a bit squeamish like me) but no doubt their strange beauty is captivating.
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Escorzo
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Looking at this artwork had me thinking about how poetry, art and vulnerability are hopelessly intertwined—when you’re a poet, the line between your personal life and professional life doesn’t really exist. Your life experiences and your research are one in the same.
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Corazonada
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That being said, how can we express this vulnerability in new and compelling new ways?
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Beso sour
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The Prompts:
1. Take the titles of the paintings in this post and include them in a poem. They are as follows:
Presentimiento: feeling; Interiores: interiors; Escorzo: foreshortening; Corazonada: hunch; and Beso sour: sour kiss.
2. Write a poem including anatomical terminology related to the heart and throat:
aorta, artery, atrium, capillaries, hypoxia, jugular, mitral, pulmonary, sternum, tricuspid. Pharynx, larynx, trachea, esophagus. Attempt to bring this terminology out of the body and into a feeling or setting.
Happy writing, bear it all, get under your own skin. And don’t forget the vulnerability is not synonymous with weakness. Quite the opposite for you, poet.
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| Read more of Alyssa's work on Floodmark. |
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