Mona Lisa Less than Half Way
Would Mona
Lisa's smile be considered
a half-smile
or a one-eighth smile?
I remember as
a child, I didn't notice
a smile on her
Italian face at all -
She seemed
angry, frowning and
certainly not
ready to embrace
The
twelve-year-old half way to
twenty-four
eyes that surveyed
Her image, in
paint, in a book -
Not half way
to her home in France
What does her
non-smile/half-smile
is it an
eighth-smile tell me?
The then-me
and the now-me
Converge and
consider
Is it
"the size of the smile doesn't matter
it is the
memorable nature of the smile which does?"
Is it "I
have crooked teeth and am ashamed
to show
them?" that causes the mystery
Or is it just
"It is easier to sit and be painted
with a
not-quite smile than the usual
Overbearing
American grin that covers
your
"trying too hard" face?
The me-now
smiles like Mona Lisa
and stops
pondering and
starts
accepting the unknowing mystery
of the
half-eight-way-there-smile
Hi Julie..I am glad you have accepted the 'half-eight-way-there-smile' (this phrase made me smile all the way there!)..I think she would have a lot to say. Maybe she was about to say it..maybe she has left the space for us to imagine what she could see..lovely piece and interpretation of the prompt..Jae
Posted by: Jae Rose | August 08, 2010 at 09:31 AM
It reminds me of the smile you get when someone has said something you shouldn't smile at, but the smile is trying to sneak through anyway. One eighth smile really suits what we see.
Posted by: Nara Malone | August 08, 2010 at 09:47 AM
Always prefer the almost smile but then I'm English so agree re overbearing.... My Sunday Scribble
Posted by: John | August 08, 2010 at 10:29 AM
I like the "half-eight-way-there-smile", but disagree that an American grin is "overbearing". I have a wide smile and laugh lines to prove it. A full smile is a warm welcome, good to see you kind of thing, but then my smile encompasses my eyes and my heart, not just my mouth. There are those, in all countries, who hide their disdain behind a fake smile.
Posted by: BJ Roan | August 08, 2010 at 10:43 AM
very thoughtful.. i wondered of this a lot myself :)
Posted by: Leo | August 08, 2010 at 11:17 AM
I think she is 1/8th smiling thinking, Oh God please someone invent a camera so i don't have to sit here for so long and can go to the loo. Lol.
Posted by: Linda may | August 08, 2010 at 05:04 PM
I had not thought of this...could is also be that she was simply a happy and pleasant woman and the half smile was at ease on her face? Well done.
b
http://www.itcrossedmymindblog.com/2010/08/setting-out-poetry-for-sunday.html
Posted by: b | August 08, 2010 at 09:20 PM
True indeed, a beautiful painting and the mysterious behind it, that was a question I asked my parents before, and one eighth smile is just great=D
Posted by: RiikaInfinityy | August 09, 2010 at 08:31 PM
Da Vinci was notoriously long in his execution of paintings so what may have started as a happy beaming smile has deteriorated to the barest sign of one as the painting progressed.
Great post.
Posted by: Old Egg | August 09, 2010 at 08:35 PM