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# Still Life
- URL: https://www.hawkword.com/poetry/still-life/
- Published: 2024-10-04T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2024-10-04T12:00:00.000Z
- Description: A watercolor struggles with a rose. Can't fully grasp its thorny disposition. Its fragrance -- so, so easy for a nose, won't pose -- and the resulting composition feels sterile, more a postcard on a shelf, a washed-ou...
- Author: A. Gee
- Tags: Poetry, Sonnet, Allpoetry Import, #Import 2026-04-25 19:56

A watercolor struggles with a rose.  
Can't fully grasp its thorny disposition.  
Its fragrance -- so, so easy for a nose,  
won't pose -- and the resulting composition  
feels sterile, more a postcard on a shelf,  
a washed-out, antiseptic-looking copy,  
than a reflection of its truer self,  
no different than a tulip or a poppy.

What's needed then? A sharper, finer line?  
A better brush with tempera? Acrylic?

To grant your rose a touch of the divine,  
replace the blissful, pastoral, idyllic,  
with chaos, life unmitigated, raw,  
and then step back, and let your flowers grow.