“rough edges,” by Elise Siegel

2026 Anthology!
Call for poetry submissions:
In celebration of dVerse Poets Pub’s 15th anniversary in 2026,
we invite poets from around the globe to contribute to our upcoming anthology,
Krisis: Poetry at the Crossroads.
Submission period: April 1, 2025 to June 30, 2025.
Check it out here!

Welcome to the dVerse Universe. I’m Lisa, your Tuesday Poetics host today. The Enchanted Tiki Bar (so dubbed by De) is open, and I’m serving magical concoctions and most excellent snackage. What can I get you? This past Tuesday, like every Tuesday, I met up with my family at Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park. Not only are the sculptures out in the sprawling acreage, they dot the interior corridors. Even the floor of the main corridor is a sculpture!

“Last Man (Guardian of Forbidden Books)”
by Leonid Lerman 

There are also real galleries with changing exhibits. A new exhibit, “Busted: Contemporary Sculpture Busts,” opened last week. Described at the fmg’s website as:

showcases this ancient sculpture genre as radically transformed by 21st-century artists. Throughout history, sculpted busts have served to commemorate and preserve the likeness of distinguished individuals, and to celebrate divinity or nobility. In recent years the bust format has experienced a revival among contemporary artists, as they’ve found it a compelling means to address issues tied to identity, mortality, power, and history. 

I don’t know about you, but I *adore* the idea behind this exhibit! My granddaughter had so much fun looking at the them. Listening to her impressions was the highlight of the afternoon.  

“Nommo,” by Radcliffe Bailey

Being geeked with the busts made out of so many materials, in so many styles, with so many ways of communicating “issues tied to identity, mortality, power, and history,” I thought it would make a wonderful prompt. Searching through the dVerse archives, I found this most excellent prompt by Victoria C. Slotto from 2012, titled, “Sculpting a Poem.” After reading it, I realized I didn’t need to reinvent the wheel. Thank you, Victoria! I encourage you to read her prompt for guidance today.

“Iberoamerican,” 
by Salvador Jiménez-Flores

Seeking poems about sculpture, I found a few. First this excerpt, discussing an artist at work.

From The Hook
By Theodore Weiss

...
She is hammering. I hear
the steady sound inside our dry,
noisy days. Sparks fly; the mind,
so taken, mighty for a moment,
becomes quarry and sculptor both,
something caught like love and war
in this golden mesh: and daring
caught that flings like sparks girls
and boys, flagrant cities prompt
to daring’s will, love and war
its burly seconds.
…

“Envy,” by Barry X Ball

Then these excerpts from a “negative” form (not something.)

From Why I Am Not a Sculpture
By Jane Yeh

To be a statue               carved by Bernini
Lounging in a climate-controlled museum in Rome         is luxury
Like the luxury of a personal pan pizza            with unlimited free toppings
Or the luxurious feel of a premium eye pencil          used to draw bisons on the walls of a French cave
To be so white and glossy                   is unimaginable
...
Where I am marble and still                  my wrist will be a marvel
Like the marvel of an isthmus           whose name can only be pronounced if you have a lisp
Or the marvelous sausage                that saved a man from the Inquisition in 1582
...
(Although I am not a statue                   I have often held my arms aloft
As when catching a carelessly thrown baby              or pointing at two meteors at the same time)
It is exhausting trying to be so inanimate               and desirable
If my arm breaks off  like the shell                of a freshly-filled cannoli
You will know why

“Untitled (Slip),”
by Jessica Stoller

I love this next one, where the poet interacts with a sculpture.

Touch Gallery: Joan of Arc
By Mary Szybist
The sculptures in this gallery have been                        
carefully treated with a protective wax                         
so that visitors may touch them.                                     
—exhibitions, the art institute
of chicago

Stone soldier, it's okay now.
I've removed my rings, my watch, my bracelets.

I'm allowed, brave girl,
to touch you here, where the mail covers your throat,
your full neck, down your shoulders
to here, where raised unlatchable buckles
mock-fasten your plated armor.

Nothing peels from you.

Your skin gleams like the silver earrings
you do not wear.

Above you, museum windows gleam October.
Above you, high gold leaves flinch in the garden,

but the flat immovable leaves entwined in your hair to crown you
go through what my fingers can't.
I want you to have a mind I can turn in my hands.

You have a smooth and upturned chin,
cold cheeks, unbruisable eyes,
and hair as grooved as fig skin.

It's October, but it's not October
behind your ears, which don't hint
of dark birds moving overhead,
or of the blush and canary leaves

emptying themselves
in slow spasms
into shallow hedgerows.

Still bride of your own armor,
bride of your own blind eyes,
this isn't an appeal.

If I could I would let your hair down
and make your ears disappear.

Your head at my shoulder, my fingers on your lips—

as if the cool of your stone curls were the cool
               of an evening—
as if you were about to eat salt from my hand.

“Untitled,” by Radcliffe Bailey

I took a bunch of pictures of the busts yesterday and have included several of them here (please click on the images to enlarge them.)  Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, gives you two options:

a) Create a sculpture (or bust) of yourself. Use any materials – real or imagined – using the guidelines within Victoria’s 2012 prompt.
b) Write an ekphrastic poem using one of the included busts. If you choose this option, please make sure you include artist attribution on your blog.

New to dVerse? Here’s how to join in:
• Write a poem (in any form) in response to the challenge.
• Enter a link directly to your poem and your name by clicking Mr. Linky below
and remember to check the little box to accept the use/privacy policy.
• You will find links to other poets, and more will join so please do check
back later to read their poems.
• Read and comment on other poets’ work– we all come here to have our poems read.
• Please link back to dVerse from your site/blog.

Prompt Open Until Saturday at 3 PM