Stevie and Vincent (the Gold Dust Woman and the Redheaded Madman)

 

The Poet’s Garden

is lit with black fire, melancholy,

and a brushstroke break

turning lover’s faces to ash.

 

Just ask le fou roux

or the gold dust woman.

 

Remember Rumours?

Maybe we love it because in our own ways

we’ve lived it, too—as if our own heartwrecks

had been written like birdsong

 

sounding so good

we want to cut off our own ear

to keep it

 

safe from another’s melody—

or to present it,

bound and bloody, to a lover as a reminder

 

never to forget the whispering

of blue firs

hanging like shadows—

and fleeting, like the holding of hands,

 

before we stopped dreaming

of tomorrow.

 

 

© 2025 Jennifer Wagner

 

NaPoWriMo Day 29:  write a poem inspired by the life of a musician, poet, or other artist.  I’ve written a mash-up inspired by Stevie Nicks and Vincent Van Gogh.

dVerse Poetics:  Getting Hooked on Opening Lines

 

The Poet’s Garden (Public Garden with Couple and Blue Fir Tree) was painted by Van Gogh in 1888.  Photo © Jennifer Wagner from my copy of Essential Van Gogh.

In 2020, Rolling Stone ranked Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours album number seven of the 500 greatest of all time.

“Le Fou Roux” (The Redheaded Madman) was a nickname given to Vincent Van Gogh by the townspeople of Arles.

“Gold Dust Woman” is the title of a song from the Rumours album as well as the title of a biography of Stevie Nicks.