Image courtesy of the National Gallery of Art
Into a theatre of wind and mist
a cable dips, disappears.
He moves steadily,
each step shortening
the improbable.
He dissolves into thunder.
The camera loses then finds his face
soaked, focused
on distance relenting.
In shoes his mother made
elk-skin suede
his feet curl along the wire.
He tells the cameraman
his arms are numb.
Weighs the long pole
in sighs, side to side.
And we can see
the waters waiting
the letting go
the urge to.
He inches ahead
each second of inertia
a pinpoint
from which we too
step forward.
This poem was previously published in Muddy River Poetry Review.
This poem, inspired by Frederic Edwin Church’s 1857 painting Niagara, was also published in The Ekphrastic Review, October 20, 2023 in their Ekphrastic Challenges series. Read about ekphrastic poetry in Niagara.
Diana Cole, a Pushcart Prize nominee, has published in numerous journals including Poetry East, Spillway, Main Street Rag, Cider Press Review, Friends Journal, The New Verse News and Orison Books. Her chapbook, Songs By Heart was published in 2018 by Iris Press and her latest book, Between Selves, in 2023 by Indian Press, Cyberwit.net. Recently, she was awarded 2nd place in the Notable Works 2024 Poetry Initiative. She is a senior editor for The Crosswinds Poetry Journal.