Rokeby Venus: Ekphrastic Sonnet « Yeah. I do a little writing . . .

Rokeby Venus: Ekphrastic Sonnet

"Rokeby Venus" by Diego Velasquez c. 1650

What Within the Looking Glass?

Is it truth you see within your looking
glass? Or merely that shallow reflection,
that skin-deep self, flesh manifestation
engineered of cells divided, cooking
DNA’s unique recipe—working
toward our next, our better(?), evolution,
and victim to fortune’s machination
toward Nature’s mysterious re-making?

Venus, do you see your truth? Burning flame
lit by unseen sun, burning bright within
eyes shadowed by doubt, self-immolation
to protest yesterday’s beauty—that same
beauty as marks you today, looks akin
to Ideal, yet perceived sans admiration?

David M Pitchford
6 December 2008

6 December 2008 - Posted by bitterhermit | Petrarchan Sonnet, Poetry, art, ekphrasis, explicate this, love poems, myth, mythology, naked, nude, poem, poems, poems about paintings, relationship, sonnets, visual | classical nude paintings, David M Pitchford, Diego Velasquez, ekphrastic sonnet, looking glass, nude, Petrarchan Sonnet, poems about paintings, rokeby venus, venus | 5 Comments

5 Comments »

Looking in the mirror, I see passion
and desire coupling with self doubt…

You have captured the words, eloquently on the page, that need to be recalled whenever that cruel monster rears his or her ugly head. Thank you…

Comment by mother2rah | 7 December 2008 | Reply
- LOL. I avoid mirrors quite a bit these days myself . . .
  
  Comment by bitterhermit | 8 December 2008 | Reply
Is it a human condition, to be plagued by self-doubt? I thought I was vain, the mirror was my friend, but now I have begun to avoid the seeming truths that the Mirror shows.

This makes me question too, is that the truth?

Comment by mysoul | 10 December 2008 | Reply
- mirror mirror on the wall
  who’s the poet among them all
  it is bitterhermit, you see
  right right, i too agree….
  
  hey thats a nonsense written by me ….but u r a genius. A poet of true order…amazing.
  
  Comment by linda | 7 May 2009 | Reply
  - Thanks. I always wondered what it would be like to have a complete stranger call me a genius after reading my poems . . . Now I know.
    I did lurk your blog, btw, and quite enjoyed it.
    D
    
    Comment by bitterhermit | 7 May 2009