Jen Feroze
Frida Kahlo Moonlights As A Fortune Teller
Frida Kahlo is often an inspiration for ekphrastic pieces, and for that reason, I’ve shied away in the past, but “What the Water Gave Me” wouldn’t leave me alone. There is something that feels somehow prophetic in the items seen in the bathwater, and this piece started with a simple list. I wanted to put the artist in the poem and have her undeniably in charge without putting words in her mouth. The idea of her fortune-telling side hustle seemed like the right fit! I usually work in stanzas, and several early versions of this poem were in neater verses, but it needed to feel more off-kilter and slightly breathless, so I went for a prose format and had fun playing around with the caesura and white space.
after What the Water Gave Me
She beckons me through the curtain roll-top bath silent
dark grace in a green shawl the room fills with steam
unscented the walls are papered with trees
my nakedness unremarkable when I am settled in the water
she holds my gaze tell me and there is a dress
a terrible jellyfish there is flesh sprawled arrogant
songbirds punctured by branches a tightrope of
mosquitoes another word for hunger this leaking
conch heart exposed flayed gold full of
holes I won’t tell you what she says next only that
as I dress I can still hear my own voice
Jen Feroze is a UK-based poet living by the sea. Her work has appeared in publications including Magma, Under the Radar, Poetry Wales, Okay Donkey, Stanchion, Miniskirt, Stone Circle Review, and Black Iris. She won the 2024 Poetry Business International Book & Pamphlet Competition with her book A Dress With Deep Pockets (Smith|Doorstop 2025), and her debut pamphlet Tiny Bright Thorns was published by Nine Pens in 2024.
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