Oval Sculpture, by Laura Donnelly

Oval Sculpture
 
Egg and open. The elm
a surface rubbed to shine,
 
a forest luster. The inside
is both inside and tilted
 
towards your gaze. What to make
of in there? Another kind of
 
smooth. A moving through.
A body’s memory made ripe
 
but not for the taking.
Can you feel the air around it
 
bend and still? Neither music
nor silence. A whole note.

Laura Donnelly

​This poem was written after Oval Sculpture, by Barbara Hepworth (UK) 1943. Click here to view.

Laura Donnelly is the author of Midwest Gothic (Ashland Poetry Press) and Watershed (Cider Press Review). Originally from Michigan, she now lives in Upstate New York where she teaches and directs the Creative Writing Program at SUNY Oswego. Current obsessions include gardens, great lakes, and attempting to learn the birds.