Dallas Museum of Art Uncrated

I always look forward to Thanksgiving, as it kicks off my favorite time of year. I also love spending the day watching parades and eating delicious food with my family and friends, while acknowledging the people and things for which I am grateful. (I am thankful for so many things this Thanksgiving!) What I really look forward to each year, however, is indulging in one specific dish…

This poem is titled after my favorite Thanksgiving food. Can you guess the title (and my favorite dish)?

The potato that ate all its carrots,

can see in the dark like a mole,

its eyes the scars

from centuries of shovels, tines.

May spelled backwards

because it hates the light,

pawing its way, padding along,

there in the catacombs.

The poem is titled Yam by Bruce Guernsey.

I found this poem and many others through a great poetry resource: The Poetry Foundation website. A  sorting feature helps users browse through poems by poet, subject, occasion, or even holiday!

Poetry can be a great vehicle to connect with artworks. Take the following stanza from John Greenleaf Whittier’s poem, The Pumpkin. Think of a work of art that resonates with the poem. Why did you make that association?

Ah! on Thanksgiving day, when from East and from West,

From North and from South come the pilgrim and guest,

When the gray-haired New Englander sees round his board

The old broken links of affection restored,

When the care-wearied man seeks his mother once more,

And the worn matron smiles where the girl smiled before,

What moistens the lip and what brightens the eye?

What calls back the past, like the rich Pumpkin pie?

Here are some works of art that I associated with Whittier’s stanza.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Andrea V. Severin
Interpretation Specialist

Artworks shown:

• Matthew Barney, The Cloud Club, 2002, Mason and Hamlin Symetrigrand piano with stainless steel, silver, white mother-of-pearl, gold lip mother-of-pearl, black lip mother-of-pearl, green abalone, quartersawn Honduras mahogany, lacewood, walnut, ash burl, redwood burl, madrone burl, and Chilean laurel marquetry; internally lubricated plastic; potatoes; concrete, and sterling silver, Dallas Museum of Art, Contemporary Art Fund: Gift of Arlene and John Dayton, Mr. and Mrs. Vernon E. Faulconer, Mr. and Mrs. Bryant M. Hanley, Jr., Marguerite and Robert K. Hoffman, Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, Deedie and Rusty Rose, Gayle and Paul Stoffel, and three anonymous donors; DMA/amfAR Benefit Auction Fund; and Roberta Coke Camp Fund
• Stephen De Hospodar, Family Portrait, 1932, Linoleum cut, Dallas Museum of Art, gift of the artist
• Russel Vernon Hunter, Sunday after Dinner, 1943, Oil on masonite, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Art Association Purchase
• Doris Lee, Thanksgiving, 1942, Lithograph, Dallas Museum of Art, Foundation for the Arts, The Alfred and Juanita Bromberg Collection, bequest of Juanita K. Bromberg
• William S. Warren (designer), “Vogue” pie server, 1935, Wallace Silversmiths (manufacturer), Dallas Museum of Art, The Jewel Stern American Silver Collection, gift of Jewel Stern