Laura Klinkon

I DON’T INTEND TO BE ARTSY-FARTSY

I don’t intend to be artsy-fartsy

yet I can’t seem to help it

for I do make art whenever I eat

or plan a meal.  You won’t find

a form more interesting, substance

more engaging, movement more

dynamic than in your G.I. tube.

You only need to trans-substantiate

its fabric, imagine it transparent,

see the contours, colors, textures

as they flow right through.

My lentil-chicken soup in browns

and whites and somewhat green,

meandering, falling like an autumn brook,

made a mental tapestry today, and

was a gentle visitor to my gastroroom—

a sand-dollar cookie with

lemon-ginger tea came, too.

Today I will not think about the sculpture

that I’ll make for dinner—dynamic and

impromptu go together! Well,

the possibilities are endless, and

honestly this concept could improve

your taste—besides your diet.

Yesterday we visited an Ethiopian

buffet.  You look at the colors of that

food and arrange them in the strata  

you contrive:  deep green, cyclamen red,  

tiger-lily coral.  High summer—

which could easily turn to early spring—

depending on your preferences.

What good is a sculpture you can’t see?

you ask. What good is a sculpture

you can’t digest?  Visualize it

in your mind!  You’ve created, pre-

conceived it, with all the wealth of content

available to you—three times a day, all in

dynamic play—both good and good, I’d say!

Laura Klinkon was born in Sicily, emigrating with her parents at five years old. She has a B.A. and M.A. in Languages and Literature from the University of Pittsburgh and American University, and has worked in editing, writing, and translating in Washington, D.C., New York City, and Rochester, N.Y. She has published a full-length book of poetry, Trying to Find You (2013), and two chapbooks, Kitchen Abrasives (2017) and Looking Askance (2017).  Laura was recently granted a translation residence by the Library of Rome, and has published the resulting Italian translation of sonnets by Edna St. Vincent Millay, in The Silent Lyre/La Lira Silente (2018), Stesichorus Publications.