Ox Carcass, by Colin Pink

Slaughtered Ox, by Rembrandt van Rijn (Netherlands) 1635.

 
Ox Carcass (after Rembrandt)

Though you hang from a rail, your body suspended,
Legs stretched apart, chest cavity splayed to our gaze,
I can still sense your life force, your power upended.
 
You toiled all day every day and never suspected,
With all your muscle, this would be your final day.
Though you hang from a rail, your body suspended
 
Like a vision of Christ, you cannot be mended,
Your carcass unclothed, exposed for us to appraise.
I can still sense your life force your power upended
 
Which makes me pray you could be resurrected
And plough for us a different furrow in a new way.
Though you hang from a rail, your body, suspended,
 
You teach that fate’s sharp blades, whose wretched
Work we cannot escape, we can only for a time delay.
I can still sense your life force, your power upended
 
To show us death hangs heavier than we pretended
But we must forge our path and not let it hold sway;
Though you hang from a rail your body suspended
I can still sense your life force, your power upended.
 
Colin Pink

Colin Pink is a poet and art historian and often writes ekphrastic poems. His first collection Acrobats of Sound was published in 2016 by Poetry Salzburg and The Ventriloquist Dummy’s Lament, a collection of villanelles together with woodcuts specially created by artist Daniel Goodwin to go with each poem, has just been published in 2019 by Against the Grain.

​Editor's note: The artworks below are by Daniel Goodwin. In an interesting manifestation of ekphrasis, Colin's poem was inspired by the Rembrandt painting, and Daniel's painting was inspired by his poem. The woodcut of Daniel's painting was used in their collaborative book.

Ox Carcass, by Daniel Goodwin (UK) Contemporary.

Ox Carcass Woodcut, by Daniel Goodwin (UK) Contemporary.