Reading a book of poems in one sitting may seem improbable, but I think many besides me have had just such an experience with C.S. Merrill's book, O'Keeffe, Days in a Life. The painter's cult status limited my interest in her for a long time. Merrill's portrayal of the aging artist in expertly crafted vignettes cast O'Keeffe in a new light for me, showing her in the context of the northern New Mexico landscape which inspired most of O'Keeffe's work. Merrill's style seems perfectly suited to the task. Here is one of the poems from the book which Merrill shares on her website:
Poem 58
This afternoon we found
one unconscious hummingbird
had battered itself against
the studio window, took it
to the kitchen, made sugar water
carried it to the garden
it sipped and perked up alive
iridescent blue green chin
whirred off suddenly up.
May, 1976
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