Ekphrastic
By Katharyn Howd Machan
Katharyn Howd Machan, an enthusiastic professor in the Department of Writing at Ithaca College, has served as coordinator of the Ithaca Community Poets and director of the Feminist Women’s Writing Workshops, Inc. Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines, anthologies, textbooks, and collections (most recently Dark Side of the Spoon from the Moonstone Press in 2022 and A Slow Bottle of Wine, winner of the Jessie Bryce Niles Chapbook Competition, from Comstock Writers, Inc. in 2020), and she has edited three thematic works, including Adrienne Rich: A Tribute Anthology with Split Oak Press. For body and spirit, she belly dances.
There is Nothing Left but the Bruised Sky
by Shakiba Hashemi
What do you see?
A painting of a woman.
She is still alive.
What colors do you find most engaging?
Green, green, so green
it really is a reverent blue
a creature of the wilderness
might dream in their first prayer.
Is the artwork telling a story?
A story
of how her hands are made of light.
A story
of how her emerald ring
becomes a sun through curved stained glass.
A story
of why her eyes are closed.
What draws you into the artwork?
Her loose hair swings into rainbows.
Her full lips are born from song.
I might have been a violinist—
no. (No, that’s all wrong!)
What texture do you notice?
Oil on canvas: of course,
palette’s swirl beneath sure brush
the man ten years younger than her
chose in reverent prayer.
Flowing. Sacred. Bold.
What emotions does the artwork evoke?
Stunning calm.
Love of yellow for her joy.
Gratitude for pink and purple
daring to collide
(I could have been a …)
Close your eyes for a moment,
then open them again. What
do you notice now?
Curve of shoulder.
Curves of hips.
Startling beads of clay and turquoise
surely swaying as she plays.
Imagine you have the chance to meet.
What would you ask her?
What do you see?
What colors fill your music?
Does your violin tell a story?
Why did you become—
no. (I dare not ask.)
What do you want others
to know about this work of art?
It makes the world a violin.
It shows us how a woman gives.
Green, blue-green, wild prayer rising
in the music her hands shape
as she stands strong in window’s brightness
saying yes to all who hear,
telling us (me!) we must keep daring
to reach for what deep love creates.
with thanks
to Jona Kottler