"Of a Child Early Born" by Troy's Work Table.
Sidewalk chalk wash, sidewalk chalk, chalk pastels, and charcoal pencil on 12" x 12" concrete board.
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"For the child is born an unbreathing scripture / and her broken authors wait / on one gurney together." and "if lightning staggers down the hall of mothers" —from "Of a Child Early Born" by Katie Ford, as found in Blood Lyrics
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I could have easily chosen nearly any poem in Katie Ford's Deposition (2002) or Blood Lyrics (2014).
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Like "The Anti-Golem," this poem is about creation and the messiness that it entails. It is likewise about ritual, prayer, and incantations to ensure that the creature lives.
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Like "Evolution," the process of creation involves being scarred in some sense as creator. In "Evolution," it is fire. In "Of a Child Early Born," it is lightning.
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I know this longing and pleading and negotiating. Not due to a premature birth, but due to miscarriage and loss.
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The comparisons—things that weigh as much as "this child of grams"—are what really carry this poem for me. I can feel the lack of presence, the lightness, the fleeting quality of this life manifested in metaphor and words.
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The chalk art is inspired not only by the poem, but also by the Star Child in Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.
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