Stiff, by Lavina Blossom

Son of Man, by Rene Magritte (Belgium), 1964.

 Stiff
  
No one can be more grave than he.
Dressed funereally, his features obscured 
by that business of history, which
holds him in his place. Still, he keeps
his footing, remains upright.  His
team leaders, Newton and Adam,
have left him here as a caution to others,
suspended him with his hands and arms
tight and down.  His failing
became his fate:  want.  He sees
his mistake every day, right
there in front of his face,
green and Too Late.

Lavina Blossom

This poem was written as part of the surprise ekphrastic challenge on Magritte's paintings.
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Lavina is a painter and mixed media artist as well as a poet. Her poems have appeared in
various journals, including 3Elements Review, The Innisfree Poetry Journal, Kansas
Quarterly, The Literary Review, The Paris Review, Poemeleon, and Prompt and
Circumstance. She is an Associate Editor of Poetry for Inlandia: a Literary Journey.
And she teaches visual art to seniors.