By Douglas J. Lanzo
Copyright 2023

First published in Westward Quarterly (Winter Issue, January 2024)

Dedicated to Antonio López Garcia, famed Spanish artist
who sculpted his wife’s bust in a single night of passion

From sunset to sunrise
he works tirelessly…
sculpting in polymer clay
each nuance of the face
of his studio “model” —
capturing her contours,
her blushing smile and dimples,
with paring knives and rollers,
needles, awls and sponges,
brushes and tissue blades —
cutting, shaping, smoothing,
transcribing her beauty
one detail at a time,
by keen observation,
bereft of measurement.

His passion in deft movement,
pairs to her breathlessness,
slowly stilling her heart,
as it textures with the clay…
exuding radiance,
beneath soft moonlit rays —
immortalizing her bust,
plastered with expression
of love for her husband,
toiling two feet abreast…