Ekphrastic Poem - Ancient Glass Vessels (Toledo Museum of Art, Glass Pavilion, shelves 4A3 and 4A7)
By Kerry Trautman
decide what each could be used for
sacrificial or mundane
decipher chiseled sketches
angular language tooled not tongued
determine if best filled and with what
or empty agape and waiting
slip one upside down atop another
chipped rims kissing in flinty scritch
if display earthquaked
slide scrape crash
reassemble pictographic pattern
shrapnel glyphs
re-form shape and purpose
for vessels five thousand years
un-lipped un-fingertipped
About Kerry Trautman:
Trautman’s poetry and fiction have appeared in various anthologies and journals, including Slippery Elm, Free State Review, Limp Wrist, Channel Magazine, Midwestern Gothic, and Gasconade Review. Kerry's books are: Things That Come in Boxes (King Craft Press 2012), To Have Hoped (Finishing Line Press 2015), Artifacts (NightBallet Press 2017), To be Nonchalantly Alive (Kelsay Books 2020), and Marilyn: Self-Portrait, Oil on Canvas (Gutter Snob Books 2022). Her next poetry collection is forthcoming from Roadside Press.