In tribute of chiseled forms...

I have always held a fascination with sculpture. I can remember seeing Michelangelo's Slaves at the Academie in Florence, for the first time. I can also remember seeing Botticelli's David at the Ufizzi Museum in Florence. These works left a strong impression on me as true masterpieces from the Old Masters. The little writing below pays tribute to the chiseled form;


The Stone Carver

Bit – by bit – by bit – is chip-
ped to reveal, perhaps?,
what was always
there sub-rosa.

Granite poet, etcher of stone sonnets.
You set down in slabs
what no pen
can pour on paper.

Mortal maker of, near, immortal artifice.
Your sculptured poetry, your chiseled forms,
stand, for some time to echo...
your place with the old masters.

Your calloused hands without effort,
labor to give character to your work.
As with Mogiri’s gargoyles–
(twenty-eight years to complete)–
On Washington’s National Cathedral.
They appear to smile and laugh, with us–
amazed that a (man)
could wrought such smooth beauty from stone...