Picasso, Pablo (sculpture). Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Bruce Graham, (building). Ezra Stoller (photo). Richard J. Daley Center (Civic Center) exterior, facade with Pablo Picasso sculpture. 1967. Cor-Ten steel. Chicago, IL. ARTstor. Web. 19 Jun. 2010.

Picasso, Pablo. Model for Chicago civic center. 1946. Welded steel. Art Institute of Chicago. ARTstor. Web. 19 Jun. 2010.

"Mayor Daley tugged a white ribbon, loosing the blue percale wrap. A hearty cheer went up as the covering slipped off the big steel sculpture that looks at once like a bird and a woman."--Chicago Sun-Times
(Seiji Ozawa leads the Symphony.The Mayor smiles.And 50,000 See.)

Brooks, Gwendolyn. "The Chicago Picasso" (1967). CUNY Composers. Ed. Corbett Treece. Web. [Day Mon. Year ] <cunycomposers.wetpaint.com>.

• Who is presented as speaking in this poem? (Is the narrator explicitly identified? Is the narrator a participant or an observer? Is the poet speaking through a persona?)
• To whom is the poem addressed? (Is the poem addressed to a specific person or a generalized audience? If the former, is this person a participant or an observer?)
• About whom or what is the poem written? (What are the relationships between the subject matter of the poem and the speaker and addressee?)
• How do the form and structure of the poem relate to its subject matter? (What is the relationship between the emotions expressed and the manner of their expression? Does the form of the poem mimic these emotions, or does it contradict, belie, or stand in tension with them? Is this subject matter typical or atypical for this genre of poetry?)

"We
may touch or tolerate
an astounding fountain, or a horse-and-rider.
At most, another Lion."

• Why does the speaker focus on these particular forms (astounding fountain, horse and rider, lion)? What do they call to mind, or what ideas and associations do they generate? Why? Explain how they can be understood to act symbolically or metaphorically in the poem.
• What, then, does the Chicago Picasso represent for the speaker? What does the speaker see, and why does the speaker reject this particular poem? In what ways does it not match with the forms of art the speaker (and others like the speaker) can tolerate?

• Is the poem making or implying an argument? If so, what is it?
• Always be on the lookout for Irony. Is the poem being Ironic? If so, how does that alter what we take to be the argument of the poem?