We remain ourselves, enigmatic–
a paired paradox
of who we are–sisters
bound by blood and expectation.
Our portrait is a puzzle
to which we hold the pieces–
together we can complete it—but only
if we remain ourselves, enigmatic.
We are both similar and neither
without being either
identical or opposite–
a paired paradox.
We hold the mirror up lightly,
confronted by our artificial reflections,
the complex and divergent shades
of who we are—sisters.
But to you we reveal nothing–
only these parallel arrangements–
the outlines of our surface disguises,
bound by blood and expectation.
I wrote this cascade for The Ekphrastic Review challenge, Theodore Chasseriau’s painting The Two Sisters. I did not think it would be published, and it wasn’t.
I have brothers and no sister, but I have two daughters. They have their own special and complex world, both for and against what exists outside their relationship. I felt that strongly in Chasseriau’s painting. For my own exploration of the painting, I drew first with neocolors and then dipped them in paint to emphasize some of the color and lines. I haven’t been doing much drawing in the past year, so it feels good to just fool around with it and see what happens.
You can see the painting and published responses here.
K. 
I really like your response Kerfe, thank you for posting it here. I felt you were writing about twins, who can sometimes communicate without speaking. I often wonder if there is some kind of quantum entanglement going on…
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I don’t have a sister, but I know many women who are very close to their sisters. It’s a complicated closeness though. My daughters definitely have their own world where I don’t belong at all.
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I like very much your cascade and your art .. it does feel more like twins.
How I dreaded when mother dressed us the same … she nearly six years younger and so very different!
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I never got the dressing alike thing. I certainly didn’t do it to my girls. I can imagine how you disliked it!
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lol and the torment of always sharing a bedroom … it would be many decades before I got my own space 🙂
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I remember my daughters were not too happy about that either. But they eventually got their own.
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I left home in my late teens but still had to share bedrooms to lower the costs 😦
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I always had roommates too.
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now I live alone and absolutely love it!
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I’m getting used to it. There are definite advantages.
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Like you, I started to write a poem to this prompt and abandoned the idea. I didn’t think they’d want it. I skimmed the entries and nothing caught my eye, but I like your poem (and the drawing) very much, and the cascade works out beautifully.
I had a cascade poem rejected after a whole string of acceptances. I was surprised because I liked it. I don’t think the Ekphrastic team like formal poems much.
Shame because I’ve just sent in three rhyming poems for the next prompt.
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They take the occasional formal poem, but not that often. I haven’t worked on the new image yet, but I like it a lot. I think rhymes would be just right.
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I tried to not write a rhyme/ballad and even that one turned out that way. Those fairy images don’t seem to fit any other form.
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I’m looking forward to reading them in one place or the other.
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🙂
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Kerfe a fitting response to the artwork. I like your rendition of it as well and glad you’re dipping your brush again. I submitted for the first time because the photo did capture my imagination but it was rejected. Just posted it on my blog though if you want to check it out.
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Thanks Jade. I need to stretch my artistic muscles. It’s too easy to get into a rut.
Just commented on your story.
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You’re very welcome!
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Well done, Kerfe! Love the drawing, as well – are you a twin? Of course divulging that might compromise the enigmatic part … 😉
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Thanks Bela. I’m not a twin–I don’t even have a sister, only two brothers. But from observation, I know the bond between sisters, even spaced years apart, can be very strong.
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I like yours very much, Kerfe, and I’m not sure why it wasn’t accepted. I sort of skimmed through the accepted ones, and nothing really stood out to me. I haven’t looked at the last couple of prompts.
My daughters are three years apart, and they don’t really look alike, but you can tell they’re sisters by the way they talk and their mannerisms. When they were teens, people used to ask them if they were twins.
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Thanks Merril. I’ve given up trying to figure out acceptances and rejections. Visual Verse has rejected everything of mine for months–but for awhile they were taking almost everything.
My daughters don’t look alike either, but they have their own language as well.
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I’m also sort of put off by Ekphrastic’s we can’t be bothered to notify you policy. It’s funny about family language and mannerisms.
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Visual Verse never tells you either, which I found annoying at first, but…many places I’ve sent work to have never responded one way or the other. Even on submittable, which makes it easy, even after I inquire. I think Lorette is mostly doing it by herself, and she seems to be getting many more entries than before. But still, I don’t like being left hanging either.
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👏
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