reflections on paintings by alex colville, by Dorothy Sjöholm

AGO Exhibition Highlights (Alex Colville, Canada, 1920-2013)

reflections on paintings by alex colville
 
for the time being no one exists
except the painted woman and me
 
the seated man
immaterial
 
she analyzes
me through binoculars--
 
a specimen
wanting a shoreline
 
floundering toward
the density of compassion
 
love in the underbrush
 
~~
 
why do the stallion’s nostrils flare
as he gallops
alone in the churchyard
 
is he too
spooked by the starkness
of a white wall
 
the approaching storm
sign over door
unmoved stone
 
the mercilessness of the wire
fence and the open gate
 
                        ~~
 
in the marshes there will be ravens
who know what to do and why
the rest of us don’t understand
 
                        ~~
 
 
why flesh
droops from the constant
weight of devotion
 
why the sea lies
so calm
 
behind the woman
who walks up the ramp
toward us
 
holds the handrails
focuses on 
answers to unasked questions
 
                        ~~
 
what the man wants
why the gun 
 
Dorothy Sjöholm

Dorothy Sjöholm is a poet and short story writer who lives in Barrie, Ontario. She is the author of one poetry chapbook and two full length works, including why the telephone stopped ringing, a novella in verse published by Piquant Press in 2019. All royalties from her works are donated to homeless shelters.