Poetry Challenge: What's the Story?

In addition to being an artist, Markus Lüpertz was a poet. Throughout the exhibition, share your Lüpertz-inspired poems with us to win prizes. Every other week, we’ll issue a new poetry challenge based on images or themes in the exhibition for fresh inspiration and chances to win. 

THIS WEEK’S CHALLENGE: 

What’s going on in Markus Lüpertz’s Mann im Anzug – dithyrambisch II (Man in Suit—Dithyrambic II)? Write a poem describing the story behind this work. 

THIS WEEK’S PRIZE: 

A Dual/Family Membership to The Phillips Collection 

TO ENTER: 

Leave your poem in the comments here, or share on social media with #LupertzPoem. 

We’ll select winners on Friday, July 21. 

**UPDATE: There was a tie for the winning poem! They are: 

Submitted by J.C. Thomas: 

He wanted to feel blue 
And hear the way he felt 
Clenched fists and 
Tighter neckties 
Drowning out the sky 
He imagined to be blue 
He wanted to feel blue 
And see the way he felt 
An open book 
Without words 
He wanted to feel blue 

Submitted by Karla Daly: 
Save the Man for a Different Painting 

It’s a fine suit, after all, 
notched lapel, long vest, 
Cerulean sheen. 

The man, a mere suggestion, 
hands of putty, 
a swipe of a head. 
A body, if there were one, 
in motion. 

So let us get back 
to the impatient suit 
not waiting for a man 
to give it purpose. 
A suit passing you on the sidewalk, 
a whiff of cedar and spice. 
It whispers 
hushed dining room, 
side entrance, 
embassy chamber with thick walls. 
Save the man for a different painting. 
Ask the tree trunk in mid-air, 
indifferent to the ground.