Evening Guitar, Romare Bearden (1987), and: Zinnias
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Evening Guitar, Romare Bearden (1987)
for Willie
Someone lent me a bookfilled with images of Mississippi,of people washing clothes,fishing, pressing hair.
A collage stretches acrossits cover: a divided blue roomone side filled with daily living:bucket, broom, live chicken, oil lamp,a guitar for Saturday's singing.
Behind the partition, a lady sitsrubbing the top of her foot,reaching for a blue dress,piled on the seat of a straight backundersized chair.
The book smells of smoke,from the coal burning stove, sharingthe surface of the painted table,beside her porcelain tea serviceits pages repeatedly read,savored between long sips.
Zinnias
After
Clementine Hunter
I remember their scent;their peach fuzz stems—I remember summer morningspicking zinnias along Cane River.A bouquet of flattened petals,purple, blue and gold on reclaimedtea-washed linen.I remember Motherplacing them between Bible pages;as if she were hiding presents,too precious for Sears Roebuck. [End Page 499]
Georgia Banks-Martin's poetry and book reviews have appeared in many journals and magazines. She lives with her husband, two cats, and dog in Montgomery, Alabama. She earned her M.F.A. in creative writing at Queens University Charlotte in 2009. Her poetry collection, Rhapsody for Lessons Learned or Remembered, will be published in 2010.
