Tiny Homage to Cornell

Here, for Cornell, I make
my smallest collage.
From a nature magazine
published in the 50’s
I cut this patch
of wild grass,
still humming with
greens and browns,
because four color
printing was just that ideal then,
still humming, following the rules
of still lifes,
with the lion who walked out
of the photo just in time
and I’ve taken one doll
from the pages of
my mother’s scrapbook
trimmed the mold,
restored her,
perched her in my cut out
U-shape of the grass.
She is not imprisoned
in any way.
She’s free to leave,
which eases the tension
of the homage completely.

She just balances,
the cream of her gown
matching the sticks
in the grass.

 

Author of the article

Deborah Keenan is the author of ten collections of poetry, and a book of ideas to write from, from tiger to prayer, from broadcraft press. Her newest poems are in Clackamas Literary Review, their 20th Anniversary collection, and forthcoming in fall, 2017, in Water~Stone Review. These two poems in Midway Journal are from her new manuscript, The Saint of Everything. She has just retired from teaching in the MFA Program at Hamline University, after twenty-nine years, and continues to teach at The Loft, and privately. She lives in beautiful, mysterious St. Paul.