Ekphrasis in Verse 2018
"Connections" by Thelia Burts
by Balil Pugh
You think you know But you know nothing! I believe, that is what she says to me The woman in this painting Her cold, icy stare that pierces the encasing of my understanding Her eyes are heavy They hold generations of pain The spirit of my ancestors lies within her skin Bones that ache from years of hard-work
I think about the stories my grandmother once told me Of her grandmother, a slave The lessons she’d learned Like knitting Here she sits, knitting a quilt for me Each square of fabric, a connection to the past A new beginning starts from here With me She never finished that quilt, or finished the parable of my ancestor I return my glance to the woman in the painting again You think you know but You know nothing She whispers with a sly smirk