poem no. 2 from my assessment

This one is based on a sketch by Leonardo Da Vinci

The Mind’s Eye

Flimsy as the ochre smear

on the page, wrestled from the earth

to give shape to the imagined.

Sturdy as the wooden frame

wrenched from the tree,

to hold the idea for a perfect, tense moment

Light as the inky sketch

of a man, perched like an anxious bird

on an unhinged swing.

Swept along on the canvas sail

of a mind that sees realities,

and dreams through other eyes.  

Poems from my latest assessment

This poem is inspired by a photo of Barbara Hepworth in her studio (no implication that she is any kind of a witch in person!)

The Secrets of Sculpture

‘Come in,’ she said, ‘or go out, all the same to me.’

Gnarled, witchy fingers grasping the frame,

she pursed her lips and smiled.

‘The stone was hewn from such as you,

Join me and live, or die.’

Tiny, like a red-capped finch,

furred as a brown bear,

she was the organic centre of the room.

Gouged from the softest chalk

and weathering all too soon.

I hovered, uncertain at the threshold,

eyes drawn to the door with no handle.

‘Where do we go from here?’ I asked.

Her wrinkled eyes darted to the stone,

‘Back where we came from.’