STIGMATA'S POEMS

As I said in prior post, Achilles and I are currently editing the manuscript for MICHEL'S REPRODUCTIONS OF THE LOST FLAG: SCULPTURES. So, I thought I'd share the book's Preface:

Stigmata’s Poems

“Every block of stone has a statue inside it and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.”
—Michelangelo


What if the block of stone was a block of prose?

These poems were written-sculpted out of the poems of similar titles in the first two sections of my 1998 prose poem collection, Reproductions of the Empty Flagpole. I did not sculpt poems from Reproduction’s third and last section as those poems were previously wrought from sculptor Anne Truitt’s three ravishing and inspirational memoirs. While sculpting the poems, I was also inspired by an observation:


“Art: … The prayer that leads to stigmata …”
—Eric Gamalinda

And here are possibilities for ye olde Author's Photo below for what would be my--que horror!--25th print poetry collection:

No make-up, but still Avatared out viz Iphone. Or, nakedly transparent but "truth" only as defined by poetry.