Look What I Drew For You

Written for dVerse Poets Pub – Revisiting O’Keeffe.
Our host, Melissa, has offered us several paintings
by Georgia O’Keeffe and invites us to explore the
world around us through the murky colors and
sharp angles uncharacteristic of O’Keeffe and
to write a poem that is not typical of our work.

I made the sky purple, like the mark on my arm
from the doorframe I walked into again.
I’m clumsy, you’re right, I’m always clumsy.
I gave the house a chimney so the smoke
has somewhere to go when you’re burning mad,
and I gave the windows heavy green lids, pulled down,
the way I keep my eyes when I hear you in the hall.

The door is every color in the box because you said
I never use my head, so look, I used all of it:
red and orange, blue and green, four little squares,
four ways in if I’m good. I counted the steps in stripes
so I’d know exactly how far it is to the bottom.
And I made the flowers taller than the house,
because something here should get to feel special.

It’s for you. You don’t have to hang it up. Put it
by your keys, or under the bills. I promise I won’t look.
I didn’t go outside the lines, not once.
Look how hard I pressed to make the lines.
Just say it’s good, even if you don’t mean it,
and I’ll draw you a hundred more of this house,
where nobody yells and nothing gets broken
and the girl inside is so quiet
I didn’t even have to draw her in.

NAR©2026

This is “Daughter” by Pearl Jam

Revisiting O’Keeffe

^{Everything on The Elephant Trunk was created by me, unless otherwise indicated, and may not be used without permission. Thanks for your consideration. NAR©2017-present.}