"Impulse Purchase" An ekphrastic poem by Sharon Scholl
Based upon "Tangles" by Nancy Nystrom
Impulse Purchase
When it was only four slashes
of brown paint slung across blank canvass,
I bought it, though I was uncertain
how a painting with such contentious
structure might turn out.
The finished work has hung
on my wall for years, threatening
to collapse into a pile of brown goo
and shredded cloth, but still holding
together, each line gripping one adjacent –
a parable of how our fragile lives endure.
From the poet:
As Sharon Scholl, Professor of Humanities, I was wandering through the Art Department and saw this painting when it was only maybe four lines and just knew it would be special. Who buys a barely begun work? I've loved the finished work ever since. At age 93, I've about written myself out, but have poetry cololections, Remains, Seasons, Classifieds, and Ghosts, available via Amazon Books. My poems are current in eMerge Magazine and Yugen Quest Review.