Georgia O’Keeffe’s Blue No. I, watercolor, 1916

by Karen George

Georgia O’Keeffe’s Blue No. I, watercolor, 1916

Misshapen skulls float, wrinkly lobes
of cortex, cerebellum cased within.

Blue, pale to black–
brain moods.

A hundred-billion
creamy neurons flow.

Two parallel structures jut–
a ladder thrust diagonal, no rungs.

My mother’s brain
misfires.

A network of endless
paths. No wonder
we sometimes get lost.

Karen George, author of Swim Your Way Back (2014), A Map and One Year (2018), and Where Wind Tastes Like Pears (2021), has poetry in Slippery Elm (winner of their 2022 poetry contest), Adirondack Review, Valparaiso Poetry Review, Cultural Daily, Indianapolis Review, and Poet Lore. Her website is https://karenlgeorge.blogspot.com/.