Sarah GorhamIcon
The carved wooden baby has a mature man's face, a likeness, you're guessing, of the artist himself. His halo is veneered gold leaf. Unclear what's underneath. But in case you were tempted to think the portrait beyond place, the painted stars are really a map of fifteenth century Barcelona. The well rendered hair is chiseled, then scrafittoed in the ancient fashion as the ringlets of his followers bear witness. And the hand sweeps East, rearranging the natural order, though the chosen are still poor, still suffering. Think well of yourself who value reason and equanimity, who pity the baby its small, necessary death.
Sarah Gorham is the author of three books of poetry: Don't Go Back to Sleep, The Tension Zone, and forthcoming, The Cure. New work appears in Paris Review, DoubleTake, Controlled Burn, Agni, and The Southern Review. Gorham is editor-in-chief and co-founder of Sarabande Books.
