The Beauty of Bareness
Jacob Lawrence
Could paint
The beauty
Of bareness
Blacks
Moved North
Leaving
Empty
Rooms
Behind
Them
Lawrence’s genius
Was to paint
Those rooms
Left behind
Brown bare
Wooden rooms
Light brown plank walls
Dark brown plank floors
A single dark green
Shade
Covering
The window
Erasing the lush landscape
Creating a
Stark beauty
A simple beauty
A bare beauty
Notes:
This poem was previously published in Crooners (Tempo Ritrovato, 2011) and is reprinted here by permission of William J. Harris. It is part of the portfolio “I Hope You Like Being Here with Me: The Work of William J. Harris,” curated by Howard Rambsy II.
Source:
Poetry
(February 2023)
