For today’s prompt, write a self-portrait poem. Pretty straightforward, right? That doesn’t mean there’s not a lot of room for creativity. Just look at artists and their self-portraits; there’s a lot of differences in the self-portraits of Kahlo, Schiele, Dali, Van Gogh, and others–and not just because the artists look different themselves.
SELF-PORTRAIT~A Masterpiece of individuality.
By John Yeo
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My ever-changing, developing, subtle self,
How do I begin to present you my very familiar friend?
You seem to change from day to day
With every act of improvisation.
I would not recognise my self of many years ago
Some things they say, improve with age.
~~~~
Would I choose the medium to match the man?
Oil paint for a perfect finish, I am an unfinished product.
Water colours would be merging and blurring reality,
Perhaps I could use marble, a self-portrait as a bust,
Reflecting a very hard unchanging exterior.
The man I see in the mirror will one day be dust.
~~~~
The modern day self-portrait is a “selfie”
A photograph snapped when alone.
A very unrealistic image they say,
It is certainly myself, taken by myself
A genuine photographic self-portrait
Without bias and make believe.
~~~
A self portrait by the artist of words
Is an impossible task to achieve.
How do you construct a self portrait?
The temptation would always be
To compose a flattering CV.
To describe and present a self-portrait
Of how one would like one to be.
~~~
Copyright © Written by John Yeo
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