While Hennig Paints the Girl Reading, by Crystal Snoddon

Girl Reading, by Gustav Adolph Hennig (Germany), 1828.

While Hennig Paints the Girl Reading

Strokes show how Gustav loved her pious head, bent
in submission to the small book, all hushed, bound
and corseted in quiet black, including the inked
words. What edifice flows from beige
page to pink forehead, only the Girl knows. Eyes
closed, perhaps she is rewriting the prose
into her own image.

Crystal Snoddon

Crystal Snoddon is addicted to words, and enjoys both reading and writing to make some sense of the world. Previous and forthcoming publications of poetry can be found at SickLit Magazine, Rat's Ass Review, The Quarterday Review, Poetry Breakfast among others.