My gesture is the
same in each case:
the left hand,
relaxed, palm up,
lightly placed on
the bare grey table, thirty
degrees and
centimeters from my robes;
then, after some
interval, the right.
Thereby, whatever
universe
of discourse has
been opened is divided,
and the choice,
i.e., the way forward,
is clear. Adultery
or drinking
must stop,
forgiveness be asked or applied,
etc. Depending on
the subject,
I am wise and
white-haired, young and earnest,
white or black, male
or female;
selection is
instantaneous, based
on data scanned
before they enter.
I see (so to
speak) their faces,
degree of
superficiality, vanity,
real concern. But
I think
the watching
crowds behind the soundproof glass
(set tastefully
into an ancient arch),
seeing me, my
gesture, and especially
the changing
posture of subjects,
benefit as much as
they.
On the stone wall
opposite my wall hangs
the result of an
interaction
with several
systems and hierarchies:
in appearance an
Old Master,
with a signature
that can be checked.
In a chiaroscuro
vortex,
a glittering
knight, his sword laid by,
improbably
well-fed shepherds,
a robed but
humbled noble, and obscurely
proud peasants of
both sexes crouch
or kneel before a
light-source,
invisible to the
viewer,
which catches
their wondering faces.
My employers have
given it
some anodyne
title. Privately,
I call it The
Adoration of the Crystal.
Frederick
Pollack
Author of
two book-length narrative poems, THE ADVENTURE and HAPPINESS, both Story Line
Press; the former to be reissued 2022 by Red Hen Press. Two collections of
shorter poems, A POVERTY OF WORDS, (Prolific Press, 2015) and LANDSCAPE WITH
MUTANT (Smokestack Books, UK, 2018). Pollack has appeared in Salmagundi, Poetry
Salzburg Review, The Fish Anthology (Ireland), Magma (UK), Bateau, Fulcrum,
Chiron Review, Chicago Quarterly Review, etc. Online, poems have appeared
in Big Bridge, Hamilton Stone Review, BlazeVox, The New Hampshire Review,
Mudlark, Rat’s Ass Review, Faircloth Review, Triggerfish, Ariel Chart
(2019, 2021), etc.