Tuesday Poem: “Portrait of Betty Curnow” by Nick Williamson

Portrait of Betty Curnow

Betty Curnow hangs

in the gallery

looking a bit stiff.

She’s been in the picture

since nineteen fifty four

when Henderson laid her out

on canvas.

The light fell at such precise

angles in those days

but really she hasn’t changed:

her hair still so severe

pulled back in a bun

her arm forever

lying across that table

with a half-finished fag

between her fingers.

Climb down, Betty,

I want to say. Get out

of that dowdy red frock

untie your hair. Breathe

the warm night air.

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This week, as part of the ‘poetry in response to a work of art’ (aka ‘ekphrastic) Tuesday series, I am delighted to welcome fellow Christchurch poet, Nick Williamson. To view the image, click here on “Portrait of Betty Curnow.”

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Poet’s Note From Nick Williamson:

This poem, Portrait of Betty Curnow, was written after viewing a painting of the same name by Louise Henderson at the Christchurch Art Gallery. It was of interest to me because Betty Curnow, wife of the poet Allen Curnow, had been a friend of my mother and I had known her when I was a child. Henderson had painted her in 1954, in the cubist style, as a Spanish dancer. I didn’t much like the rendition, the way Henderson had ‘laid her out on canvas’, and I wanted Betty to be able to escape from the painting to be her true self, of which I had a vivid memory.

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About The Poet:

Nick Williamson lives in Christchurch, New Zealand. His work has been published in numerous literary journals. His first book of poems, The Whole Forest, was published by Sudden Valley Press in 2001. Broken Light, a poem from that book was selected for Best Poems New Zealand in that year. In 2005 his poem, Learning a Language’, won the New Zealand Poetry Society’s International Poetry Competition.

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To read the featured poem on the Tuesday Poem Hub and other great poems from fellow Tuesday poets from around the world, click here or on the Quill icon in the sidebar.