Skip to Main Content
  Navigation Menu
      Admission is always free

          Open today:10:00  to 5:00
          Directions
           Play Artle
        Visit
      Visit
          
            Getting Here
          
            Accessibility
          
            Tours, Guides & Maps
          
            Food & Drink
          
            Gallery Shops
          
            Visitor Policies
  
  Collection
      Collection
          
            Highlights
          
            Search the Collection
          
            Artists Search
          
            Acquisition Highlights
          
            Stories
  
  Exhibitions
      Exhibitions
          
            Current
          
            Special Installations
          
            Upcoming
          
            On Tour
          
            Past
  
  Calendar
      Calendar
          
            Films
          
            Performances
          
            Talks
          
            Guided Tours
          
            After Hours
          
            Fun for Kids
          
            Festivals
          
            Workshops
  
  Learn
      Learn
          
            Teachers
          
            Families
          
            Teens
          
            Adults
          
            Learning Resources
          
            Music Programs
          
            Film Programs
  
  Conservation
      Conservation
          
            Projects
          
            Publications
          
            Resources
  
  Research
      Research
          
            The Center
          
            Publications
          
            Make an Appointment
          
            Archives
          
            Library
          
            NGA Online Editions
  
  Support
      Support
          
            Donate Now
          
            National Membership
          
            Circle Membership
          
            Leadership Groups
          
            Planned Giving
          
            Major Giving
          
            Gifts of Art
  
  Shop
      Shop
          
            Books
          
            Jewelry
          
            Apparel & Accessories
          
            Kids
          
            NGA Custom Prints
  
  Play Artle
            Previous Menu
              


  Search
  Hide Menu
  
  Home>Stories>Poet Heid E. Erdrich Responds to a Portrait by Amedeo Modigliani
      

      
      Search Art in Focus Poet Heid E. Erdrich Responds to a Portrait by Amedeo Modigliani min read
 As part of our “Poetry is a country” festival we invited celebrated American poets to compose something new inspired by art in our collection. Heid E. Erdrich (an enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe) wrote poem in response to Amedeo Modigliani’s portrait Roma Woman with Baby.
 Shown from the knees up, a woman with peach-colored skin and dark hair sits facing us and holding a baby in this stylized, vertical portrait painting. The woman’s features are elongated and simplified, and the nearly geometric forms are outlined with gray. Loose brushstrokes are visible throughout, creating a textured, mottled effect. The woman’s long, thin face comes to a point at her chin, and her brown hair is pulled back on either side of her forehead. She has pale blue eyes, an exaggeratedly long nose, noticeably flushed cheeks, and her coral-pink, bow lips are closed. Her white blouse has a wide, tomato-red, squared collar that lies over her shoulders, and a thin, light blue scarf drapes around her neck and down her chest. Her long, full skirt is blended shades of violet purple and sky blue. The woman’s hands are clasped around a baby wrapped in a navy-blue blanket. The baby’s head is covered with a long pink cap with black and white bands at each end. The woman casts a narrow shadow against the gray wall behind her. Bands of elephant gray, black, and brown behind her across the bottom of the composition suggest an abstracted bench or seat she sits on. The artist signed the work in dark letters near the upper left corner: “Modigliani.”
      
        
        
            
         	  Amedeo Modigliani, Roma Woman with Baby, 1919, oil on canvas, Chester Dale Collection, 1963.10.174
 That Bright Heid E. Erdrich
 It's not the broken slat 
at the window drawing  
an angle of light in my eyes 
but as bright as that   
and as sudden - my look 
the look I gave.  
I don't get it 
either I see too much  
or do not see at all 
or overflow with sea 
all aquamarine. I hear 
theory and critique.   
But what overflows here? 
Me my child patient  
in my lap 
a weight   
so your  
eyes slide  
down my  
impossible neck.   
Then it's all skirt - less me 
more of the blue of his 
childhood seaside. I won’t  
miss him. I saw what he did.  
You would think I’d be restless 
but it's quiet here and cool. 
I'm happy enough to represent 
though you’d be surprised   
how little I know. 
You view Roma from such 
distance. And they see 
there's nothing Roma in me.  
Just the passion of painters 
and poets trying to catch  
who they think we might be.  
Here hold my shawl.  
I'm stepping out now and you 
you can stop talking through me. She is right  
    She’s right 
    I am   
    I’m right 
    But what to do   
    with all the knowledge,  
    myth, slurred names?  
    A god saw the boredom 
    of the poor and gave them  
    Doma, caste of dancers 
    and musicians on the move. 
    What to do with the words? 
    Isolate - the frost in background.   
    Haplogroup- the absent gold. 
    This light is cool and you know 
    red leaps in but cannot escape  
    a baby’s weight a motherless child   
    the real her                   the model  
    the artists lover         pregnant again 
    doomed to sudden grief and suicide  
    that will kill their second child. This painting one of his last 
        I think of him ill               abusive 
        addicted to women     their forms 
        faces with nothing to offer her  
        but an exquisitely thin blue scarf  
        a red collared sailor dress   
        a child     a shadow his own mad beauty   
                            as it met her smile 
                            that look     that bright  
                                                      that eye she gave.
 Please note: We have tried to preserve the formatting of poems, but some devices may distort how text appears. Read the poem in its original formatting here.
 Explore new creations by some of America’s most important living poets.
						
						
							Read more
 Heid E. Erdrich An enrolled member of the Turtle Mountain Band of Ojibwe, Erdrich is an educator, curator, interdisciplinary artist, and guest curator at the Mead Art Museum of Amherst College
 September 01, 2023








Stay connected Learn more about our exhibitions, news, programs, and special offers.
 Email Address for National Gallery newsletter subscription


About About the National Gallery
    
        Stories
    
        Press
    
        FAQs
    
        Contact Us
 Plan a Visit Getting Here
    
        Accessibility
    
        Today's Tours
    
        Food & Drink
    
        Calendar
    
        Downloadable Map
 Get Involved Donate
    
        Membership
    
        Volunteer
    
        Opportunities
    
        Shop Online
 Resources Search the Collection
    
        Conservation
    
        Library
    
        Archives
    
        The Center
    
        Film Programs
    
        Music Programs
    
        Audio/Video
    
        Open Access Images


Hours: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. daily West Building6th St and Constitution Ave NWEnter or exit from Constitution Avenue, 4th Street, or 7th Street. The Madison Drive entrance is currently closed. East Building4th St and Constitution Ave NWEnter and exit from 4th Street. Sculpture Garden7th St and Constitution Ave NWEnter and exit from 7th Street, Constitution Avenue, or Madison Drive. We are closed on December 25 and January 1.
 The National Gallery of Art serves the nation by welcoming all people to explore and experience art, creativity, and our shared humanity.


Twitter
          Facebook
          Instagram
		      Pinterest
          YouTube
 © 2024 National Gallery of Art   Notices   Terms of Use   Privacy Policy