Poem of the Month

PRINT
i.

bloodred plate

ii

woodblock cut and inked
brazen with thick color

pressed to a blanket of paper
so the fine calligraphy of scars

marks a textured
sheet

iii

swapped left to right
not the line but the line the line leaves
otherhanded

iv

i leaned close over the page
tracing light as dark shape
to transfer to the block
how would it look
without its shadings?

v

twenty interesting failures kept
in a folder by the bench
and this one?

vi

inked bloodshadows and empty space

vii

i drink coffee at the bench
inks and wet rollers pushed
back a stack of proofs pulled

a progression the woodcut
carved corrected in stages
tested black on white until

i’m moved to color and
richer paper

viii

brightflash stamps a redburn
afterimage on the eye that slowly
fades yes paper lays
atop the woodblock

her back to you while you
burnish her back thoroughly
press her to the ink slowly peel
a corner back

ix

spread to dry

x

of many one
astonishes how the
toolmarks printed how
the farcorner too lightly
inked looks overexposed
i stare for hours

xi

proof

–jil hanifan