Lyn Moir
Juanjo, The Guggenheim, Me
Second Light Poetry Competition 2008 SHORTLISTED
I’m sitting by a pond behind the Guggenheim –
Bilbao that is – unable to describe
a building undecided
whether to swim or fly.
Pencil to paper – words are inappropriate.
I draw its curves to see
if deconstructing planes
will answer questions of identity.
¿Qué haces? a tiny boy whispers,
river-brown eyes fixed
on swiftly-changing marks.
I say I’m drawing the museum.
You have a go, I say. He takes
the pencil in his slightly sticky hand,
makes marks on the opposing page.
Comparing the subject with his careful scribble,
I can’t, he says, it’s not like that,
expression desolate. Me neither, I reply.
When he has gone, his parents reassured:
no, Juanjo has not irritated me,
I look again, see he has almost drawn a ship,
and kindness might allow I’ve sketched a gull.
Page(s) 32
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