The Black Madonna of Częstochowa, by John Davis

Icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa (Poland) c. 1300s. Andrzej Otrębski, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

The Black Madonna of Częstochowa
 
holy Mary.  mother of God. 
strung up in a Polish monastery,
wounds tracking like tears of blood.  
 
who disfigured you?  who do we blame?  
that rampaging mob of bandits and brigands, 
like army ants, heads bulging, 
antennae bent, monstrous mandibles--  
dissenters who mutilated the face of a woman 
in love with her people? 
 
or did that second band of vandals, 
armed with brushes, paints and suspicious intentions,
cause a greater harm?  sloughing off damage, 
they gave you noble features: a sharp nose, 
thin lips and a voice, we imagine, too high, 
too demanding.  
 
transfixed, now an image of an image, twice removed.
 
still, we strive to live lives imitating art, looking 
back at you in silence, 
the silence of stone statues and monastery walls, 
the silence of the devout at prayer,
of stars less bright and of candlelight,
 
the silence of eyes and looks no one hears.
 
silver frame, silver shroud,
a visage irremediably marred by scars-- 
we search your face, effaced, and still 
we look for love.  

John Davis

John Davis is a Canadian living in the US.  He spent ten years in Toronto as a graduate student and assistant professor in Political Theory at the University of Toronto.  His best memories, however, occurred in the (same) seven years at the Open Studio, working with Don Holman and Otis Tamasauskas.  He also spent time with other artists and art historians.  Several years of his graduate student time was devoted to Art and Politics, as a tentative thesis. He often writes poetry in response to art.