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I received an email a while ago asking me to take part in a project called Broadsided (www.broadsidedpress.org) which pairs poets and artists. Every so often the creators of Broadsided send out an email to their pool of participating artists. In each email are two or three poems for artists to "dibs" or chose to use as inspiration of a work of art. After signing on, the very first email they sent out for "dibsing" contained a poem that struck me, not only as a good match for my style of art, but it was like having the wind knocked out of me without the actual punch. The poets name is Joe Wilkins. Here is the poem and the painting I created to pair with it.
Meditation on the Treason of His Body
Bent over books of the economic
and social development of Latin America,
my brother is dying. I have only been once
to see him, there in the gray light rushing
like water down Arthur Avenue, down
the throats and into the lungs of young
men bending against the black stones of
tenement houses. And there I saw his body
turned on itself, insurrection of MS—left eye
white and blinking, the hung flesh of his face,
bird's legs and trembling hands. He is 24.
He has gone gauzy in the light, his shadow
on the sidewalk only half as black as mine.
But in the evening, after we eat ravioli
from the market and share a quart of beer,
after he sets out a syringe and translucent
vial of oily medicine, scrubs his pearl belly,
and slips the needle in, little red bulb of skin
in chemical blossom, he pulls his shirt back
across his still wide shoulders and opens
his book and studies.
This poem and painting will go live on BroadsidedPress.org on May, 1st. Thanks for stopping by my blog!
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