(in response to the work of Kate Clarke)
She sculpts
their profiles
from clay
and plastic,
contouring
cheekbones,
inserting glassy eyes,
fixing false lashes.
Her retractable blade
slices the damaged
hides. Tender vulnerable
fingers pin and stitch
stretch and smoothe
attach a patchworked
head onto the creature’s body.
Human-faced fawns, bears, dogs,
antelope etc are posed
in the gallery. An invitation
to reconnect…
I fall for the azure gaze of the zebra-man.
Each night now, I sleep standing up
and dream of arid grasslands
and I’m searching for
my lover’s bullet-pocked
skull and his cruelly scattered
dreams.