(Artwork by Baya Mahieddine)
Preface:
The artwork is called Femme et orangers fond blanc (Women and orange trees on a white background). It was painted by the Algerian artist Baya Mahieddine, born Fatima Haddad, (1931-1988) and her art was the muse for both Picasso and Matisse. She liked to paint women and would portray them in traditional tribal art. She usually painted them as strong, bold women and used bright colors. For someone who influenced such great artists, she is an artist that is easily overlooked by history. My intention for this poem was to show her artwork while also writing a poem that showed my interpretation of the work without taking away the actual meaning of the art. I wanted to write about the women in the artwork as nymphs who had come out of their trees. They could not coax their sister in the orange tree out because she has died but her shell, the tree, remains.
They dance
in their dresses of
twigs and leaves, hair wrapped
in water as they gather around
the tree. They search for their
sister in orange to come out
and play. Yet the nymph herself
is no-where to be found. She stays
silent, as if her soul has been
erased but her shell still remains,
blooming and full of life,
unlike the orange nymph
herself. Her soul had given up,
the tree had become the only
form she chose. Her tree stood
still, lifeless but it blooms,
robust with fruit.