An American Portrait

Just threw this together. You can imagine what it is about.

An American Portrait

 

 

Canvas of infidel white.

Decadent blue.

Carnage red.

Stains smeared

Across a desert landscape

In pigmented oil.

Strokes brushed

With the delicacy

Of mortared precision.

The abstract,

Morality and mortality,

Blends,

Creating hues

Of delicate imbalance

Shaded

With the color of

Condemnation.

The hue

Of

The conquered nation.

Palette mixing contrasts,

Perception and deception.

The paint

Rolls

(roils)

From the scene seen obscene.

A signature

Signed,

 

America!

 

 

Legion

25Feb08

Reviews

[Raef C. Boylan]

This is pretty clever, use of the flag as a parallel to the 'war' - your choices for descriptive imagery work really well, e.g:
"Canvas of infidel white.
Decadent blue.
Carnage red." - straight away, the reader knows what you're referring to, without you having to spell it out or explain in a more straightforward manner.

Some good wordplay also - "From the scene seen obscene".

The contrast between traditional associations of the phrase "American portrait" and what this poem depicts the US as, although less shocking than a few years ago (such as MM's album 'Portrait of an American Family'), still forces the reader to double think. Your title becomes an analogy, maintained throughout the piece through art-related metaphor.

Great write.
Protest against the war...or against the recent factors contributing to demolition of America's reputation?

Thanks for entering this.

[Succubi]

very well written...
i love how it brings the point across of the image of america fighting in war
and how we are conquered by the enemy, we just don't know though

[emmajoy]

'Across a desert landscape In pigmented oil' = strikes home almost immediately.

Your poem - very finely constructed by the way, sums it all up .. I'm truly impressed by the thoughts and opinion you've expressed in this post.

[SM Davis]

I agree with Orlando... it has a definite bite to it...almost bitter and yet the reader is caught up in the rudimentary sediment of it all. PERFECT PICTURE!

[R J Askew]

This bites. Like 'pigmented oil' very much and the echo in 'roils' . And the 'scene seen obscene' I also like. Very punchy.

[Andromeda]

so sad, very poignant poem. very very very good

[John Parker]

Very well written piece......sorry I haven't reviewed much lately....been working a lot and just getting over the flu.......

Very cool!! I was once a paratrooper in the Army. My views on the whole mess have changed.

[Master Morality]

I am always split on this issue, because as much as I don't agree with what America and us lot did - I know full well that people most likely would scream the other way if it hadn't been the way it is.

[The Archangel Gabriel]

That's fabulous! And, I was worrying that the political wing of the anthology was going to fall behind! That's beautiful! Lady Liberty was never so sexy as when she stopped putting out leaving it all to our imagination! :)

-Gabe