Ekphrastic Exhibit

Last night the Ekphrastic Exhibit opened in Broken Hill, but unfortunately I was not able to be there due to road flooding. This was an unusual exhibition, involving collaboration between visual artists and poets. A number of artists working in different media created artworks upon the theme of 'plastic lives', the relationship between women, plastic, and life. Then poets were invited to write something inspired by one of the artworks.

I chose a lovely monochrome nude by Phyllis Raganovich. We talked a little about her feelings and intentions in creating the artwork, and her phrase "how I wish I could have those years again" resonated with me and formed the basis of my poem. Here is her artwork:

And here is my accompanying poem:

Wish

Oh how I wish

I could have those years again

I still dream I’m her

The woman who ran, laughing, for the bus

Danced down sidewalks when the wind blew

Breasts like ripe peaches, firm and soft

The hollow in my hip where my hand lay in sleep.

For you, love, I wish I could be her again

Back before life wrote on my skin

That you could have known me in those years

Met the woman I am in dreams, who still runs

But here, in the night, when you hold my breast

When you lay your hand in the hollow by my hip

I think you feel her beneath my skin

The wind that still blows, the scent of peaches

Still the dance of tender love.