This poem, “Shell,” is based on Käthe Kollwitz’s drawing “Woman with Dead Child,” and it was my art teacher’s favorite piece. It made her emotional every time she looked at it. While writing this poem, I thought back to how moved my teacher was and tried to embody the drawing in my writing. This work of art inspired me to write a poem about my interpretation of what I saw, because it impacted me too.
Shell
Hunched into a primal, taut form
the mother grimly puts her nose
into the soft neck of her son.
Her heart now lies forlorn.
The life she had always known
automatically stops.
When his heartbeat comes to a halt,
her heart sinks, then drops.
Too shattered to look at his face,
her strong, thick arms and hands
hold his cold, lifeless body
in an all-consuming embrace.
Her expression contorts
in ways she never thought possible,
and her mind strays further from
what is reasonable and logical
The truth cut her soul like a knife,
but she privately hoped,
as she desperately clung to him,
That he would come back to life.
A bright light shines on his pale skin while she grieves alone.
It was a strange kind of anguish
only a mother would know.
To get a better sense of the poem’s meaning, I suggest looking up the artwork while reading to get the full feel of the story.
Photo by Kamala Bright on Unsplash
It’s interesting how weddings can sometimes overshadow personal identities. Did you find that balancing both was tricky?