Speculation on the History of Drawing
The tool,
A burnt stick,
Extends the body
In this space
And through time.
The mark renders,
We assume,
Asserts meaning
We might yet read:
An abstracted serpent,
The moon’s trajectory,
A caribou’s spine.
As far
As an arm can reach:
A drag of charcoal
High on the cave wall,
Still measured by,
Scaled to, a human body.
Speculation on the Little Ice Age
A makeshift
Bird trap
Waits to be sprung.
A startled horse slips,
Sinks through ice.
Two women
With knives
Dress a pig carcass
Hung on a hook.
If you look up,
Smoke exits
Through doors and windows,
Because a stork
Nests on the chimney.
Twilight shadows lengthen,
Bleed into darkness.
Everywhere ice
Calls down the cold.
