A Poem by Tom Hatch

Scraps of Paper Her Nights of Christ’s Shirt

 

Sketches adorn many a dog eared paper

New ideas on textured napkins her open note book

are sexy skirts of chiffon off the shoulder,

dresses silk puffy collars

and gowns of flowing designs with open backs

Stacks and stacks of drawings

Scraps of paper sketches on top of them

Drawing the evidence that her thoughts pour out

Onto pages all night insomniac gracefully

on a new sheet of 8 ½”x11” a sketch of a

female figure with an asymmetrical sexy skirt

hands on hips long neck long legs

"printed source pg. 183 Byzantium" I found

the 2” thick book on pg. 183 is a

Painting tempera gold leaf on wood

first half of the 14th century

from Constantinople artist unknown

the holy drama three figures

symmetrical ascendant in the

center is Christ on the cross the left is

the Virgin Mary dressed in a

blue maphorion bordered with

gold fringe and a hood standing small head

Mourning face almost horizontal to the ground

on the right is St John the Evangelist

dressed in maroon robe over

a light blue dress flowing down covering

so you do not see his feet

holds his head in right hand sorrowfully covers his face

with blue sleeve hanging open down 

in the shape of a tormented mouth

small trees popping out of the lower portion of landscape

behind the cross two small angels float above Christ’s

out stretched arms held by nailed hands

a semicircle halo glows from his back to above his head

Christ is dressed in that

asyemmetrical skirt on the new sheet

 

Her journey at night traveling from the

Mediterranean to the Black Sea

on pages filled with holy trinity for a

new season of blessed garments in the

new fall collection Christ died for fashion 

On the cross wearing an asymmetrical shirt

Soon to be cat walked center stage

 

 

 

 

Tom Hatch paid his dues in the SoHo art scene way back when. He was awarded two NEA grants for sculpture back then. And taught at various colleges and universities in the NYC metro area in art (including Princeton and U of Penn. in Philly). He is a regular at The Camel Saloon and BoySlut. He had recently published at The Mind[less] Muse, Jellyfish Whispers, Napalm and Novocain and Dead Snakes among others. He lives in CT with a few farms up and down the road works in Manhattan. His train ride to and from NYC is his solace, study and den where it all begins and ends.