Marble Gestures

A Poem

Yes, I know you thought that the statue was awake noting down all the scenes you wish would remain concealed in something like a marble sarcophagus Not the half-ruined sepulchre of some long ago idea that couldn’t be spoken aloud A finger to the sky elbow articulating complex circles and a geometry of liars the false gratitude of an open smile that twists the other models into fits about the skin on their knees You talk about going away from the condemnation we’ve had to endure so far disappear beyond the arctic find new homes in snow with an absence of dirt and we’ll grow food by bright lights that will soak up the moonlight for magnetism and then we’ll hammer the permafrost into paper and scan the marble gestures for mistakes or mixed messages

J.D. Harms 2020