The Rose

Writing Like a Rose: with Beauty, Thorns, Addiction, Dedication & inspiration

The Painter

by John Ashbury

Sitting between the sea and the buildings

He enjoyed painting the sea’s portrait.

But just as children imagine a prayer

Is merely silence, he expected his subject

To rush up the sand, and, seizing a brush,

Plaster its own portrait on the canvas.

So there was never any paint on his canvas

Until the people who lived in the buildings

Put him to work: “Try using the brush

As a means to an end. Select, for a portrait,

Something less angry and large, and more subject

To a painter’s moods, or, perhaps, to a prayer.”

How could he explain to them his prayer

That nature, not art, might usurp the canvas?

He chose his wife for a new subject,

Making her vast, like ruined buildings,

As if, forgetting itself, the portrait

Had expressed itself without a brush.

Slightly encouraged, he dipped his brush

In the sea, murmuring a heartfelt prayer:

“My soul, when I paint this next portrait

Let it be you who wrecks the canvas.”

The news spread like wildfire through the buildings:

He had gone back to the sea for his subject.

Imagine a painter crucified by his subject!

Too exhausted even to lift his brush,

He provoked some artists leaning from the buildings

To malicious mirth: “We haven’t a prayer

Now, of putting ourselves on canvas,

Or getting the sea to sit for a portrait!”

Others declared it a self-portrait.

Finally all indications of a subject

Began to fade, leaving the canvas

Perfectly white. He put down the brush.

At once a howl, that was also a prayer,

Arose from the overcrowded buildings.

They tossed him, the portrait, from the tallest of the buildings;

And the sea devoured the canvas and the brush

As though his subject had decided to remain a prayer.

Source: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/26810/the-painter; Poetry (December 1955)

Copyright credit, as stated by Poetry Foundation: “Some Trees” by John Ashbery. Copyright © 1956, 1978 by John Ashbery. Reprinted by permission of Georges Borchardt, Inc., on behalf of the author’s estate. All rights reserved.

*This is a picture of the hot air balloon magnet my friend, Aaron, who is a painter, painted for me with acrylics, after I received it in July 2026.*

Author’s note: This poem inspires me, because I have been using it as a reference for my sestinas. I not only really like the poem and how it regresses the painter from start to finish, but I also like how Ashbury uses the sestina form to accomplish this. I hope to write as many sestinas as good as this one, maybe even better; but, for now, I’m holding this one up as a standard for any sestina I write in the future.

Hello,

I’m Jessica

Welcome to The Rose! This is my literary corner of the internet, dedicated to all things creative writing. Here is where I keep a collection of my work. This includes everything from poems to short stories to writing tips, aka my collection of AD-Libs. I hope you enjoy what I have written here and are able to relate to my work. But ultimately, I hope this site inspires you to love writing as much as I do!

Writing Like a Rose: With Beauty, Thorns, Addiction, Dedication, and Inspiration.
Please see the “About” pages for more information!!

Feedback: Criticism is welcomed!! And, feel free to leave comments if you like or dislike something.

What’s here: See the different categories for different poem formats! They include sestinas, villanelles, sonnets, etheree, semi-perfect sonnets, haiku and others.

Most recently published: “How to write a semi-perfect sonnet”, a sample semi-perfect sonnet and “When you see a spider,” a reverse etheree.

Important: Due to the story’s sensitive nature, the sestina, “Coming to America”, is password protected. If you would like the password, please email me at magnoliamclean@comcast.net.

AD-Lib is here! Make sure you stop by the AD-Lib section! You can view previous AD-Libs under the “AD-Libs” tab to get some great tips on your writing and find out what is going through my head as I write. You can also view old Ad-Libs by year under the “Archived Entries” tab.

Coming soon: You’ll be surprised! ;) I always try to keep this site updated, so there’s always something new here!

The fine print: Finally, please read IMPORTANT copyright information before proceeding; however, I do encourage the file sharing of my work.

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The Rose

Writing Like a Rose: with Beauty, Thorns, Addiction, Dedication & inspiration