Like the Body in the Box

Photograph Untitled. Taken at ArtPrize, Grand Rapids, Michigan. By Reka Jellema. 2010.

once you made a line
a line wandered
grew a skin
no topography
nobody
had seen before

how fine
twas said
a gourd, a cake of cheese
imprisoned in a square
life stilled

this spirit seized
a thing possessed
this work
some sighed --
nothing like it

Exorcise colloquial
a jug to raise
and drink,
framed behind
a glass

one chained
the piece
to keep it safe
and safe
it ever was

how fine
some asked
is fine art --
the stuff
regurgitated
and swallowed

on view like the body
in the box
but paler

By Reka Jellema
September 2014