After the painting by Berthe Morisot
Andrea Watson
Enter the yellow house at 5 Rue Guichard:
Step through the Salon: Glimpse the terrace—
Edma Pontillon, past-dawn, in her morning dress,
Lily-woman among the half-closed flowers.
She does not feel your eyes, the subtle brush:
Turned away as she is from the waking day—
Gown lifted from summer damp, en déshabillé,
Silence of the garden. Only this perfect hush.
The private moment. The play of early light:
White-white against her alabaster skin—
She wonders if rooftop spires swallow night.
Jug of blue: her earthly chore to water:
Bayberry and laurel buds reopen—
Abandoned of art, the dutiful daughter.
Andrea Watson is founding publisher and editor of 3: A Taos Press. She has designed and curated 16 ekphrasis events of art and poetry across the United States.
Top: Berthe Morisot, Young Woman Watering a Shrub (1876), 16 by 13 inches
