• Submit Poetry
  • About Us
  • Members
  • Support SCP
Thursday, September 25, 2025
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Art
    • Children’s Poetry
    • Covid-19
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Found Poems
    • Human Rights in China
    • Humor
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • Terrorism
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
  • Poetry Forms
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Pantoum
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondeau
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Sestina
    • Shape Poems
    • Sonnet
    • Terza Rima
    • Triolet
    • Villanelle
  • Great Poets
    • Dante Alighieri
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Homer
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Robert Frost
    • William Blake
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Art
    • Children’s Poetry
    • Covid-19
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Found Poems
    • Human Rights in China
    • Humor
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • Terrorism
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
  • Poetry Forms
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Pantoum
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondeau
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Sestina
    • Shape Poems
    • Sonnet
    • Terza Rima
    • Triolet
    • Villanelle
  • Great Poets
    • Dante Alighieri
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Homer
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Robert Frost
    • William Blake
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
No Result
View All Result
Home Poetry Art

‘On Picasso’s Grotesque “Seated Woman in Blue Dress” Selling for $45 Million’ by Phillip Whidden

May 22, 2017
in Art, Beauty, Poetry
A A
7

(The BBC story here for reference)

If I were burdened with a lover who
Looked crooked like this woman (woman?), I
Would go as twisted as Picasso.  Blue
Lips, though, are what I’d paint to help me shy
Away from her (or him?—can’t really tell),
And if the her/him face looked so like dwarf
Distorted body features, I would yell
(With pretty words), “Please, honey, may I morph
You into something else?  We’ll have to part
If I can’t paint you pretty.  If I bloat
You up as is, then who will buy the art?
Look here.  To show my love, I’ve slit your throat.
____They won’t believe you’re young as thirty one!
____Please may I change your looks, love, just for fun?”

 X
X

Phillip Whidden is a poet published in America, England, Scotland (and elsewhere) in book form, online, and in journals.  He has also had an article on Wilfred Owen’s “Dulce et Decorum est” published in The New Edinburgh Review. www.phillipwhidden.com

RELATED

‘When Helen Keller Met Mark Twain’: A Poem by Brian Yapko

‘When Helen Keller Met Mark Twain’: A Poem by Brian Yapko

September 21, 2025
Five Rose Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke, Translated by Alan Orsborn

‘Roses Are Red’: A Poem by Evan Tester

September 10, 2025
ShareTweetShare
The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.
Read Our Comments Policy Here
Next Post
‘The Port of Tears’ by James Sale

'Careless Dan' by Michael Harmon

Essay: ‘Poetry and the Muses Part 1’ by James Sale

Essay: 'Poetry and the Muses Part 1' by James Sale

‘Two Mourning Doves’ and Other Poetry by Joe Tessitore

'Two Mourning Doves' and Other Poetry by Joe Tessitore

Comments 7

  1. David Hollywood says:
    8 years ago

    I agree.

    Reply
  2. Hibah Shabkhez says:
    8 years ago

    😀

    Reply
  3. Bob McGinness says:
    8 years ago

    “You’re so analytical. Sometimes you just have to let art…flow…over you.” (from The Big Chill)

    Reply
    • David Hollywood says:
      8 years ago

      Maybe we have!

      Reply
    • Phillip Whidden says:
      8 years ago

      Thanks for making a comment, Bob McGinness. I’m afraid I do not “get it.” Is it an attack on people who analyze art instead of “just” allowing it to flow over them?

      Reply
  4. Joseph S. Salemi says:
    8 years ago

    The painting is an example of garbage art. The fact that it has been sold for 45 million dollars is merely a testament to the corruption of taste in the Western world that has gone on for over a century now. Consider the following: a painting by the talentless Basquiat, an overdosed drug addict whose work doesn’t even rise to the level of lavatory graffiti, has sold for over 100 million dollars just recently.

    Reply
    • G. M. H. Thompson says:
      8 years ago

      The art world’s completely crazy– I like a number of Piccasos, but you’d have to be blind to like this one. 45 million, are you kidding me?! This is why there will be no new rennaisance– the rich of today have no taste. Just look at the Koch Brothers– all that money, and they mostly only spend it on politics. What a terrible waste. And when they do serve as patrons to art, which is far too seldom considering their vast fortunes, they sponsor groteque, utterly unimaginative idols of post-modernity, such as a plaza and two fountains they built in front of the Met in 2014. These cockroaches are no aristocracy, they’re not even peasants.

      Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Discussions

  • Garima Obrah on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku Competition
  • Prashant Rawal on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku Competition
  • Michael Vanyukov on ‘Dear Blabby’s Advice for the Clueless’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson
  • Michael Vanyukov on ‘Absalom, Absalom’: A Poem by Brian Yapko
  • Sreeja Mohandas on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku Competition
  • Amie on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku Competition
  • Katherine Davies on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku Competition
  • Leslie Hendrickson-Baral on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku Competition
  • Paulette Calasibetta on ‘Absalom, Absalom’: A Poem by Brian Yapko
  • Joseph S. Salemi on ‘Absalom, Absalom’: A Poem by Brian Yapko
  • Prae Pathanasethpong on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku Competition
  • Venessa Lee-Estevez on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku Competition
Facebook Twitter Youtube

Archive

Categories

Quick Links

  • Submit Poetry
  • About Us
  • Become a Member
  • Members List
  • Support the Society
  • Advertisement Placement
  • Comments Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use

Welcome Back!

Sign In with Facebook
Sign In with Google
OR

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password? Sign Up

Create New Account!

Sign Up with Facebook
Sign Up with Google
OR

Fill the forms below to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Art
    • Children’s Poetry
    • Covid-19
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Found Poems
    • Human Rights in China
    • Humor
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • Terrorism
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
  • Poetry Forms
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Pantoum
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondeau
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Sestina
    • Shape Poems
    • Sonnet
    • Terza Rima
    • Triolet
    • Villanelle
  • Great Poets
    • Dante Alighieri
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Homer
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Robert Frost
    • William Blake
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books

© 2025 SCP. WebDesign by CODEC Prime.

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this website you are giving consent to cookies being used. Visit our Privacy and Cookie Policy.