Picasso’s Flounder

September 27, 2026 Poet: Peter Finkle Artwork: A Flounder Speaks by Julia Janeway

Picasso’s Flounder

Yo, Pablo Picasso, rebel artist!

Defying convention, and beyond,

you even tweaked the rules

set by venerable Mother Nature.

She designed bodies this way.

You painted ‘em that way, your way.

Two noses here

Lips every which way

And your classic: two eyes jammed together,

looking out from same side of face.

So fun to be famous as “the bad boy” of art.

You were cocky ...

until sly Ma Nature

put a flounder on your still life dinner plate.

How to paint a flounder?

She got you this time, old rebel.

Tweak the rules? Scramble nature’s design?

Only one way to do it.

Cursing every stroke of the brush,

you had to paint the flounder

with one eye on each side of its head –

looking like every normal fish –

except, of course,

a flounder.

Yo, Julia Janeway, local artist!

You paint within the lines,

revere Mother Nature.

You look like “the good girl” in the art room.

Then I see your flounder,

and I wonder ...

This is not the shy flat fish

that hides, camouflaged,

on sandy sea beds.

Your flounder sings in the sea!

Complex rhythms rising.

Full color, no camo.

I laugh with Mother Nature

to think you may have one-upped

Mr. Picasso himself.