Poem 22 - Girl with a Letter

Photo: Sally Douglas

Girl with a Letter

(after Vermeer)

I close the window.

Draw the curtain

so the folds of red brocade

hang flat

against the day.

. 

I held them both,

the flatness

and the folds.

The flatness of paper

and the folds

within its words,

the spilling of the fruit –

my folding of your letter

into something very small.

Sally Douglas

The first draft of this poem has been on my hard drive for a long time - since 2009, according to the date on the file.  I attended a very enjoyable Poetry School workshop, run by Lawrence Sail, which focused on poetry and paintings. This poem came from an exercise based on Vermeer's painting Girl Reading a Letter at an Open Window. I stashed the draft away, and didn't do anything with it until now, prompted by NaPoWriMo. So here it is.

Incidentally, if you haven't read any of Lawrence Sail's poetry, I would recommend it. You can find some of his poems here.