statue of some forgotten woman, never
named, molded in the likeness of Venus or Persephone,
is forever turned right, her look
fixed on something unknowable
as her lineage, I wonder still what prompts
her stare, sets her gaze to the Chinese screen,
eyes holding the bright
orange stars of koi in place, dark
ink-brushed women gathered and waiting
on the river's edge, their stillness now confused
with motion, poised for their goddess to lift
a pale hand veined with plaster cracks from
folds of cloth at her lap, to give a signal, to set
their wooden boats, hungry too, adrift
Author Bio:
Lisa Alexander Baron is the author of 4 collections of poetry including, Reading the Alphabet of Trees and Sting and Tell. Her latest collection is based on art called While She Poses (Aldrich P, 2014). Her ekphrastic poems have recently appeared in Chautauqua, Confrontation, U.S. 1 Worksheets, and the Maier Museum of Art website. She holds an MFA from Vermont College of Fine Arts and is an adjunct professor of speech and English in the Philadelphia area.