Poetry Readers Challenge discussion

This is a favorite poem from
Spool in the Maze, which I reviewed a few days back. I really like the use of repetition and image, and how the title makes you focus on one thing (the artist), only to have the poem surprise you and turn around to "be about" something else. In the book, the poem is titled "Modern Wing."

Matisse
by Colleen O'Brien

Whether the letters of an unread headline
Whether the newt-rabbit, blue and virile
Whether sketched or sculpted, the thorn extractor
Who competes with the stickpot geranium,

The woman is the wallpaper
The woman is the stuffed cushion
The large-eared decorative housecat
Is the house’s bathing heart.

Link: http://thejournalmag.org/archives/730

S. wrote: "This is a favorite poem from
Spool in the Maze, which I reviewed a few days back. I really like the use of repetition and image, and how the title makes you focus on one thing (the..."

Thanks for adding the excerpt. I like it, too.