What made Georgia O'Keefe paint skulls
in the New Mexico desert?
Was it her fascination
with the bleached
and weathered vestiges of death
left to dry
and become the desert sands?
Was it the simple interest in
anatomy
and animals
that did it?
My guess is a simpler one.
The inside structure of anything
bleached white
by the sun.
The framework
that holds skin
and tissue into
a bond with movement
and surroundings
drying on the desert floor.
A female dissecting
the structure of an animal
is at first offputting
and masculine.
Until the nature of the artist is exposed
and we see a complicated
female
with the search for structure
that exists with no restraint.
Not tied to the earth but
one with it.
