Tuesday, February 24, 2009

A Real Woman

How beautiful I feel!!
Now, here, in my
ratty shirt & no bra,
my hair sticking up in wild, nap-induced tufts,
no make-up, no earrings, not even my signature ring!
Legs clad in jeans with
blown-out knees & a hole in the butt,
pulled over unshaved legs,
toes tucked into baby blue sequined slippers,
paint-splattered hands and arms, an
errant splotch on my cheek, and (of course)
Zoe in my lap.

Around me, evidence of my afternoon,
home tending to a sick &
mostly-sleeping Double BB.

Art, it's art, piles and stacks,
pages and paint brushes and tubes
and ink bottles and rinse buckets
and soiled blotter paper and
gloppy paper towels.
Scissors, stapler, glue stick,
ruler, punches, trimmer -
the creativity maze.
My Zoe carefully tiptoes
through it all on her way to my lap,
fastidiously shaking off the sticky goo
such as she always does.

Here I am!
Do you see?
Oh, DO YOU SEE?

Color, glitter, ribbon, photos, paper.
My inside skin turned inside-out,
overtaking the room with inspiration,
drenching me in a halo of myself
& banishing all notions of how I
'should' look, or feel, or BE.

HOW BEAUTIFUL I AM!
Look!
My ideas, my innovation, my
responses, summoned, expressed,
caught now with
glue & ink & shapes &
focal images & words.
My heart, my soul, my love, my
fears, my memories, my LIFE,
here, all around me, an
unimaginably genuine self-portrait.

Part, stereotypes!
Make way, expectations!
Take note, perpetrators of false feminine realities!

THERE IS A REAL WOMAN AMONG YOU,

and I am she.

02/24/09 l. antonia brown
isle of sky words

9 comments:

Ellie_bugs_mommy said...

Good for you I love this entry and I am glad I am following your blog. I remember those days that I could say simular words but my artful days have taken a back seat though I must say not for long.

Eternally Free Spirit said...

I love this entry! It sounds so much like me too. I may not have paint everywhere but my words are everywhere. Very awesome entry ^_^

r said...

this one made me smile.

Candy Bello said...

nice! what a great life!

:)
candy

Veronica said...

WOW.... that is just perfect.

Unknown said...

An ode to the real woman, and I'll bet you're cute as hell too! I can feel your energy....You go girl!

sam brightwell said...

"My inside skin turned inside out ... drenching me in a halo of myself..."
I love those words. I want to be drenched in my own halo this afternoon but it's eluding me.
Keep up the beautiful work hun.

Cindy said...

I love this entry.and it sounded like my love however I certainly can't put it in writing like you. yours is an awesome blog to follow. thanks for cheering me up .

rivergardenstudio said...

This is a beautiful and inspirational poem... I have read it twice, you are beautiful! roxanne