Draughtsman Drawing a Recumbent Woman

Location

i.

in this 1525 woodcut print by Albrecht Dürer

visual space is bisected by a gridded device

that se-
vers

the unruly form of Woman
locking Her in perspective

prepping her to be remade
-anew- on the ivory page
 

a mind is a terrible thing to waste
intellect must be used to heal
 

heave-hoeing, His hands
will bind and cleanse
the feral landscape

leaving only the rise and fall
of the tide at dusk
 

ii.
 

i only exist if you see me
 
i beg of you to look
to scrape at the varnish

and feel these Hands
they are cold and weak
 
i long to please
 
scars line the undulations
of my skin and i will
 
honor them
 
they are reminders of its function
fibrous tissue that has lived

to serve
the land of its birth
 
and i will no longer fear
the body that has cloaked me
 
it is me
 
for at least

a moment in time

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