Poem by Kerrie O'Brien (Ireland)

Published in The Ofi Press issue 42

 Signs

One painting caught me

his electric elk made of white

wet mist blurring to colour at the edges

floating in the dark

the kind that demands respect -

to confuse a predator

a herd will scatter to the four winds

stamina agility persistence

all trembling before me

waiting for me my first day in Paris

I had seen it years before – knew every bit,

had stared for hours at a book of his works

always that one

an inexplicable draw

taken right out of my old life

my whole being brought somewhere else

no chance of ever seeing it – privately kept

and here it was

quivering on a wall beneath my room

live, real, prancing beneath my room

it is said that all moments are

happening at once all one the same thing

all those weeks all those weeks

I stood before it every day

not understanding anything but trusting

pure gratitude pure miracle

Barrie Cooke in the room next to mine

I touched his hands touched

his hands.