Celia Stuart-Powles – Ⅳ

Still-life with Red Cabbage and Onions 

                    Vincent Van Gogh, 1887 

 

 

 

The phthalo glazed

cabbages lay

in disarray

 

and a red onion

has been hewn

in twain—the

 

sweet onions,

(pungent in cadmiums)

seem to tremble

 

at the carnage.

The cloth terrain

slopes perilously,

 

shadows slide

cool as a clarinet,

then seduce me

 

as they avalanche:

the kiss of scandal

lurking in the red

 

undercoat—toasting

or bleeding? Aftermath

or flirtation? The flame

 

of the artist singeing

the scene, brushing

the still into frenzy.