After Francesca Woodman’s Then at one point I did not need to translate the notes; they went directly to my hands, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976, ​by Arya F. Jenkins

After Francesca Woodman’s then at one point I did not need to translate the notes; they went directly to my hands, Providence, Rhode Island, 1976

Then I was younger than you
Less formed less cohered
If you can call playing with shards
At the edge                  coherence ever

I lived on the edge too
No frame yet for the shards
No name for them
Or billfold to help the unraveling
That would have given me a
Start at knowing anything
Never mind who i was

To myself I imagine crouching like that
Your hands on the grooves of a dead wall
Your back to the world
An obvious admission
No question about where you were

What did people think
When they saw you 
Over and over
The star of your own demise
Crucified on a doorframe
In pieces
Obscured 
Bisected?

Such terrible fatal ardor
For what?

Everyone pondering shadows and light
Their awful intersections
Brilliant absence
That was your mind

Without for a moment considering
Flesh and blood and angst
That would lead you
Small i
Already decapitated
Out a window.

​
Arya F. Jenkins

This poem was written after Francesca Woodman's Then at one point I did not need to translate the notes; they went directly to my hands, Providence, 1976. Click here to view.

Read more of Arya's TER ekphrases here and here.

Arya F. Jenkins is a Colombian-American poet and writer whose poems have appeared in many journals and zines, most recently Hawaii Pacific Review, Jerry Jazz Musician, and OyeDrum Magazine. Her poetry has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and has been widely anthologized. She has also published poetry reviews in Cleaver Magazine, Cider Press Review, Rhino Poetry, The Poetry Cafe and Vol. 1 Brooklyn. In 2021, her poem “Ruin” was selected as a finalist for the Derick Burleson Poetry Prize by Choeofpleirn Press. She is the author of four poetry chapbooks, a short story collection, Blue Songs in an Open Key (Fomite Press, 2018), and a novel, Punk Disco Bohemian (NineStar Press, 2021).