EKPHRASIS : Art Describing Art : 2015
California Writers Club, Mendocino Branch : A Collaboration : Artists Co-Op of Mendocino
Writers Responding to Visual Artworks
Barbara MacKay “Mirrored Self”
Responded to visual artwork by
Karen Bowers “Moment”
![Picture](/uploads/1/0/4/8/10489195/2992150.png?339)
Mirrored Self (Nude) by Barbara MacKay
someone said
paste your pain on the wall
I put mine on the edge
of a shaded canvas
and there it hangs
a phantom breast
haloed in soft green
what’s left of me
my full torso
predominates the canvas
colors playing against each other
hair of rust, jaundiced rib cage
blue-veined buttocks
intervals of white skin
and those sketchy pencilings
the filaments
of my soul
the who I am
not blank inside
just a little faded
waiting for pain to subside
waiting for flesh to heal
waiting for wholeness
someone said
paste your pain on the wall
I put mine on the edge
of a shaded canvas
and there it hangs
a phantom breast
haloed in soft green
what’s left of me
my full torso
predominates the canvas
colors playing against each other
hair of rust, jaundiced rib cage
blue-veined buttocks
intervals of white skin
and those sketchy pencilings
the filaments
of my soul
the who I am
not blank inside
just a little faded
waiting for pain to subside
waiting for flesh to heal
waiting for wholeness
my mirrored self
releases me |