Ekphrastic Poetry – Chop Suey by Edward Hopper

There’s a meme doing the rounds on Twitter currently (not that I spend my whole life on social media, you understand) about which famous painting best represents your soul. I went for Van Gogh’s Starry Night but a huge thanks to Annabel Gaskell for choosing Nighthawks by Edward Hopper, which reminded me how much I love his depictions of urban loneliness and angst. My favourite of his paintings is Chop Suey, so much so that I wrote a little poem about it. It’s been far too long since I shared any of my poetry, so here it is, thanks to Annabel!

To warm your fingers on the teapot

till the bruise-blue tinge subsides.

To allow the pallor of the windowblind

mimic the green in your dress.

To know that vegetable wontons will never be as filling as duck

but all you can afford.

To keep the hat on and feel the flash of neon lights

mock the expensive lipstick he gave you for your birthday.

To wait for the office gossip to die down.

To wait for him to leave his wife.

To wait for the order that never seems to come

for single women on the second floor of that small lunch place

in Chinatown.