Ekphrastic Poem

Here in Hamilton, New Zealand, we have a group of lively poets who meet once a month. Sometimes we set ourselves a little task.  This time someone suggested that we write an ekphrastic poem - one stimulated by a work of art and which attempts to bring out the essence of the art work. Here is my effort, "From Stone", inspired by a sculpture in marble created by a friend, artist Robyn Douglas.  My son Warren couldn't resist it and so parted with some of his worldly wealth.  When he shifted to the South Island he left it with us, on loan - it is VERY heavy.

It has a curious difference in appearance at night - hence the poem.

Aretes and Cirques

Nun in a Position of Prayer

From Stone

It’s not often you see a woman

mash and chisel armed

dust and sweat streaked

searching a stone for soul

the lichen-blackened

skin has gone

a meta-structure of  marble

exposed in crystal

ice white in glacial cirques

the scoops of hanging valleys

reveal curves of breast, buttock

daily we watch it grow

the sculptor is Robyn

her smile of recognition

hidden under the mask

of goggles and task

at last the valleys are sculpted

their sensuous heft and shine

inviting the stroke of hand

a wish to protect, to own

different angles, different lights

reveal aretes and valleys

or folds of a wimpled woman

nun in a position of prayer

or is she saying ‘namaste’

in day a nunatak

at night a nun, from stone

the soul of a sculptor.