The Ekphrastic Review
  • Ekphrastic Journal
  • About
  • Give
    • Merch
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
  • Ebooks
  • Submit
  • Prizes
  • Ekphrastic Writing Challenges
  • TERcets Podcast
  • Writers
  • Contact

Who’s Watching Whom? by Lee Woodman

6/16/2020

0 Comments

 
Picture
The Equatorial Jungle, by Henri Rousseau (France) 1909

Who’s Watching Whom?
  
Someone tried to rub out the moon,
light blurs in self-defense,
forest colours dim to blue-green camouflage.
Broad arms of leaves arch over the proscenium--
elbows of spades, bladed sprays of ferns.
 
Two creatures, centre-stage, stare.
Furry mute father, owl or bearded man.
Raccoon or gorilla son, X-nose, flashlight eyes,
ears on high alert.
 
Hyacinth of wisdom stands sentry on the right,
directs the pointed stage lights below
to keep guard, hold fire, maintain calm.
 
Henri Julien retells this play, 
jungle upon jungle—Madagascar,
New Caledonia, Brazil, Peru,
Macedonia, Mexico. 
 
Scenes repeat scenes, forests of mystery— 
the hidden scout!  Rousseau’s point man 
perched on a bent branch, 
high over cuckoo-flowers. 
A man-bird, small-beaked, shrouded by
ill-fitting trench coat and cape, 
witnesses all.
 
Hours pass, sky smudges away,
a lion passes by, tail swinging.
Rousseau recedes in the wings, 
a perfect stage manager.

Lee Woodman

Lee Woodman is the winner of the 2020 William Meredith Prize for Poetry. Her essays and poems have been published in Tiferet Journal, Zócalo Public Square, Grey Sparrow Press, The Ekphrastic Review, vox poetica, The New Guard Review, The Concord Monitor, The Hill Rag, and Naugatuck River Review. A Pushcart nominee, she received an Individual Poetry Fellowship from the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities FY 2019 and FY 2020. Her poetry collection, Mindscapes, was published by Poets’ Choice Publishing in January 2020, and Homescapes will be published in May 2020 by Finishing Line Press.


0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture

    ​​Find a writer, artist, or poem, etc. by searching here:
    Join us on FB and Twitter!
    Picture
    Picture
    PLEASE SUPPORT US



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Lorette C. Luzajic theekphrasticreview@gmail.com 

  • Ekphrastic Journal
  • About
  • Give
    • Merch
  • Book Shelf
    • Ekphrastic Book Shelf
    • Contributors' Book Shelf
  • Ebooks
  • Submit
  • Prizes
  • Ekphrastic Writing Challenges
  • TERcets Podcast
  • Writers
  • Contact