After Pablo Picasso, Weeping Woman, 1937
Oh, Dora
look here: look at your muse.
the little man who painted in cubes.
he’s made a picture of you
and called it ‘weeping woman’.
Your Hamlet has struck you across the face
and pushed you head-first into the reeds –
perfect, darling Dora. the light is hitting your tears in just the right spot. don’t move:
your body’s something for me to annihilate every decade.
Oh, Dora – don’t you see this is how he destroyed your past:
a single, blood-stained glove kept hidden under the stairs.
a drowned woman.
a goddess.
a doormat.
a woman trapped in a spider’s web.
a portrait of a woman on fire.
this woman is perfected, don’t you see?
the only good woman is a dead woman
the only good woman is a woman on canvas.
in black and white,
you lovingly documented his greatest hellscape
and in return
he stole your name
and taught you how to paint in squares.
Featured artwork: Weeping Woman, Pablo Picasso, 1937, Photo: © Succession Picasso/DACS 2023 reproduced here for non-commercial use with the intention of education and discussion.
