a large, world-sized body change

Remedios Varo Mimesis

I’ve been fascinated by the paintings of Remedios Varo. Here’s a poem I wrote about one of them:

Remedios Varo paints “Mimesis”

Woman melts into the chair,

her neck and face

the chair’s upholstery,

her hands , claws on the chairs claws.

Thighs and knees still there under her skirt,

calves and feet now chair limbs..

Cat watches

from a hole in the floor:

watches the

green scarf rise like a cobra

from the basket by her left claw.

One leg of the basket stand

curls a tendril

around her leg,

another

melts pliable pincers

around the basket leg

Everything’s moving.

Leg of the chair in the corner

reaches tendrils

into the closets closest drawer.

Green clouds waft in from the cupboard.

Everything migrates across the screen,

Her body molds across the chair,

a large world sized body change.