Making you

I wanted to make a statue of you
something permanent and monumental
for a public place
where tourists and pigeons
would read the shiny brass plate
inscribed with your name
and wonder who you were

Marble proved hard to shape
too cold for my purposes
and the chisel nicked me
drawing blood

Clay warmed to my fingers
but my prodding left thumbprints
and gouges I couldn't smooth

Plaster dried before I could shape it
and paper-mache dripped gummy paste
from my chicken wire frame

I thought of whittling you
from driftwood we found last winter
of abbreviating your monument to
a conversation piece for the mantel

I'll leave you be.
But I still keep the shiny brass plate
in a secret place
somewhere near

Let me hold your hand
while you look for it

 

--Vance Briceland

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