​Abstraction with Red Circle, by Patricia Hale

Abstraction with Red Circle, by Esphry Slobodkina (USA, b. Russia) 1938

​Abstraction with Red Circle
             
I could have been anything--
a cloud of ever-changing form,
 
a loose sparrow feather
trembling in the leaves--
 
that moment of weightlessness, 
         that yearning.
 
I could have been water in a glass,
shattering reflection,
instead of ice melt 
pooled on frozen clay.
 
But the rising moon held me 
till daylight burned me.
The sun raised blisters on my skin.
You see? This world is not all sweetness.
 
I could have closed my eyes
and seen nothing. 
 
Siberia or the sand, what called me? 
            The cold.
What kept me?
            A red balloon. 
What tied me to the earth?
            The sky, relentless weight of it.

​Patricia Hale

Patricia Hale is a poet and collage-maker. When words won’t come, she tears up things to create something new. She is the author of the poetry collections, Seeing Them with My Eyes Closed, and  Composition and Flight. Her prize-winning work appears in many journals and several anthologies, including Forgotten Women, Railonama, Encore 2021 Prize Poems, and Waking Up to the Earth: Connecticut Poets in a Time of Global Climate Crisis. She lives in Connecticut, where she serves on the board of directors for the Riverwood Poetry Series.