Still Life in the Physical World

Wednesday, April 02, 2014 4:40 PM | Debbi Lester (Administrator)


Still Life in the Physical World


We desire this ripening — 

green pears in southern windows,

shiitake mushrooms nested in a basket

from the corner grocery —

all the abundance of duty

and want.


No, what I want is more.

How our lives collide

like strange sketches,

your small talk no different

than a woman’s.  You are

my double, the mirror

message I leave for

the visitor who pauses

in the hallway.


The mind creates the world,

but the body inhabits it,

draws all the edges we count,

such as index finger

tracing background air.


Or, say we walk beside the river

on this brilliant day.  How different

to have hair defined by tree,

clothes outlined by water.


Still, there is always the body

displayed against sheets — pale

green or deep lavender. And

there is this, the best

any artist could ever do:

the body outlined by body —

arm across thigh, head

to belly; this is the portrait

we most desire, each of us

separate, revealed

by the other.


Gayle Kaune

First published in Still Life in the Physical World, Blue Begonia Press

   
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