ascending numen woman

•

                                        (a sculpture by
                                            Keith Jellum)

  seeming to float horizontal
in the photograph, the almost
                                  human contoured
      almost industrially fabricated
  tube of fluted bronze. arms
stretch above the head, legs
         extend down, terminating
  not in hands and feet but in
           shredded clusters of frayed metal.
     the head oval and human-shaped,
no eyes or mouth, the face
     a suggestion without detail.
   in the arms, the legs, the chest,
    holes have been opened through,
                                  hand-size, face-size,
 installed with electric lights
     and quartz crystals,
   refraction, arc, emanation. light
shimmers over the cool liquid bronze
        surfaces, flashes
                    out from the metal openings,
             sparks sharp as stars.

     the knowledge, the story, the worker knew
        to cast life into this form
    of metal and rock and glass.
     so that this figure speaks to us, standing
           before us, so that she speaks, as she
        reaches into herself, as she passes
 through the world, her body
      that is made of the world, made
         of the beings of the world,
            which is her world and ours. 
approach her. touch the cool metal arm shapes
   of this made object. feel with your fingertips
 the smoothed lines, the curved planes
with the palm of your hand.
  touch the place in her that is like you
    look into her face, the careful curve
     of cheekbone, the mouth open to speak,
   see her looking at you, feel the gaze
           of her eyes passing into you, bright
with particle activity, angular
         with reflection.
  belonging to herself, in possession
    of herself. her gaze that says
  we are not yours.

       speak to her. she speaks
     but in another place. sacrifice
       of dreams. the cloud of knowing.
   the tower by the sea, amber light,
          green light of the adriatic.
           sacrifice for the life of the world. the world
       crumpled and in tears.
arched echo of air. fallen walls
          of a century. empire
of crumbled rock and dust.
           migrations pour over the borders.
       radio dispatches before dawn.
           foundry fires, metal alloys,
    monument and icon, sheet
  and cylinder.
    article and prototype.
 what is this light she sheds.
           what is the sorrow she takes.

 there is nothing here that we
         cannot see. we must change
     the world. the figure nods
         in the dream. flowering tree
that overlooks the house.
        stone marker, winding vine. hearth
 and threshold. secrets and nakedness,
         pomona and vertumnus, eros
          and psyche retold.
         the dark grapes of the vineyard.
            “lilies without, roses within.”
          europa. demeter. psyche. wind
        over the high ridges. dawn light
           across the amber hills.
         city of bridges. river of memory.
           the stone, the iron, the air, the water,
    the wind, the bronze, the worker.
        we carry the life of the world.
     we are the wind and the river,
    we are the story.
       the plaster cracked, the walls cracked
    with humor.
  green cupola of the city.
       the winged horse of ages.
 mud and dust, clouds and dampness,
        shoulders bent, faces steady.
    the red clarity of the sun rises
     over the roofs.
     the anthem lifts above the streets.
   in the coming morning, in the gathered
       daylight, in the golden fields,
   among the green flowers, along
    the blue streets,
 where our words touch,
      where we remain unbroken.