A little more Gwen John

This evening I'm off to a talk on Bleeding Heart Yard, on which more tomorrow, but that led me to a book of poems of that title, by William Scammel, and I think his poem, titled "Retrospective", has Gwen John rather well, if very much from a male POV:

In part:
"Gwen John's women only just
make it onto the canvas. Pale blue's
the colour of the birth they choose
not to announce. They're fading fast

into a future of unreachable
addresses, high single bed,
cats, letters posted or unposted,
three or four cowslips on the table ..."

Bleeding Heart Yard, William Scammel, Peterloo Poets, 1992, p.17.

My earlier posts on John are here and here.