Delusions of Grandeur, by Robbi Nester

Delusions of Grandeur, sculpture by Rene Magritte (Belgium), 1967.

Delusions of Grandeur

People like to believe 
they are more than 
just the body, with its 
insistent hunger, larger 
than the animal urge. 
Hands, after all, serve 
the mind, whether 
plotting an arc or 
sculpting a stone. 
But we are composed 
of the same stuff 
as a star or a redwood, 
subject to the same 
laws that govern 
a mountain or a cloud. 
What is art without
the body? Without
the material, the sensory,
there could be no art,
no artists. So in 
the image, the glorious 
torso is headless, 
the smallest part 
of the body. It rises 
out of the much 
larger pudenda, 
origin of all making.

Robbi Nester

This poem was written in response to the surprise ekphrastic poetry challenge on Rene Magritte.
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Robbi Nester is the author of three books of poems--an ekphrastic chapbook, Balance (White Violet, 2012), and two collections of poems: A Likely Story (Moon Tide, 2014) and Other-Wise (Kelsay, 2017). She has also edited two anthologies--The Liberal Media Made Me Do It! (Nine Toes, 2014) and an ekphrastic e-anthology, Over the Moon: Birds, Beasts, and Trees--celebrating the photography of Beth Moon, which is accessible at http://www.poemeleon.org/over-the-moon-birds-beasts-and .
Robbi has published poetry, reviews, essays, interviews, and posts in many journals, anthologies, blogs, and websites. A full list of these is available at her website, http://www.robbinester-poet-and-writer.com.