Poetry by Joyce Odam
Snowy Egret, Photo Credit (c) Thomas Lux 2007 |
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THE CUBISTIC WOMAN
FEMME AUX RAISINS— Jean Metzinger Painted in 1917, 32” x 39-1/2” by Joyce Odam She turns this way and that to feel herself turning, to watch the expressions of light upon her. The room keeps her secrets. The chair is an incident of reason. She confesses only to the bird-headed jug on the table beside her—how attentively it listens—how the empty glass inquires. She moves slightly and the room changes its whole perspective. Her thoughts are made of moods. The bird and the glass conspire to intoxicate her. She is a warm glow in a room of designing shadows. She loves the separations of her mind— how golden she becomes with each shift of her body—how motion and stillness work in harmony to perfect her. For what impressive mirror does she prove her beauty? BLACK GOWN STUDY Homes for the Disembodied—Mary Tuma by Joyce Odam Black dresses hang in high- fashion mourning— ceiling to floor— trailing into each other like a path of grief made of weeping. Though bodiless, a sympathy can be felt for them, hanging so starkly black and sheer as if a message of confession: gowns of surrender; gowns of release from all their vanities and fatal loves. No breeze disturbs them in this bright gallery. They hang as a study of silence—wearing dust and light like penance (though one dress turns at this—upon its hanger—and a shudder is felt—for what can this mean unless a way to disagree). OLD DIVA After Orange Soprano —Otto Mjaanes by Joyce Odam Her voice is gone. Her slow eyes search the room for some old admirer, one who still calls her Diva, tips his glass and mouths endearments. This she believes and counts on. Music fills the background—subdued and polite—the musicians careful not to play something she was famous for —to let her presence still amaze—but demand nothing beyond the legend of her fame. Even so, she floats through the indifferent room with a particular air of disdain, faltering slightly before the hallway mirror that observes her with a commiserate, —but still flattering—returning look of sympathy.  Canadian born, Joyce Odam has lived in the U.S. since the age of three and in Sacramento since 1952. Her poetry credits include: The Christian Science Monitor, Ekphrasis, The Seattle Review, The Rattle and local anthologies Landing Signals, The Sacramento Anthology: One Hundred Poems, and Watching From The Sky, which was edited by Ann Menebroker and Martha Ann Blackman. Ms. Odam's awards include: Grand prize Artists Embassy International’s Dancing Poetry Contest in 1999 and two- times winner of CFCP Golden Pegasus Award. She now edits BREVITIES: A Mini-Mag Of Minimalist Poems. Her most recent chapbooks from Rattlesnake Press are NOIR LOVE and PERIPHERALS (Prose Poems). Joyce Odam has a passion (amounting to a credo) for the relevance of art in one’s life. |
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