Just

by


‘She just survives’

—Griselda Pollock describing Alina Szapocznikow

 

She does

a drawing of herself. Her face floating

 

in these objects

on the floor. I feel this

intense desire

 

to live with it, puzzle it out.

She’s speaking

 

the body. She makes the sculpture

inside the mouth.

 

They want the lamps, the penises, the flowers,

the fruit, with no sense

 

there’s something

troubling there. She is daring

 

to stay close

to these forms but nonetheless seeking

to escape them (into joy).

 

 

 

 

 

Note: this poem is composed of phrases—with some adjustments—from Griselda Pollock speaking with Katy Hessel on The Great Women Artists Podcast, episode 50.

 

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