Mulgrave Road Theatre Ekphrasis 2022
Written pieces were shared at a public reading on July 23 at 2:00pm at MRT’s RoadHouse, accompanied by the artwork.
Pam read her poem “Me and Crow” which was inspired by the painting The Looker by Andrea Pottyondy.
Me and Crow
Pam Calabrese MacLean
Crow tucks me under his ebony wing
We steal every joy
As we fly between treetops & sky
Between day & night
We are blind & see everything.
I hunt with Crow
From his feet,
His gullet
We eat nothing but death
I rise with Crow
Hundreds of wing tips
Blacking out the day
I sleep with Crow
In stolen nests
Sometimes empty
Other times a feast
I betray Crow
For one short breath
I believed this is what I wanted
To be free
Free of Crow
In between trigger & bullet
That rips a hole in him
A hole in sky
As if Crow was all crows
Sky swallows every one
Day is black
Black
Flutters just beyond
What I can see
And calls my name
In empty rooms
Against the velvet sound
of wings.
There is not ever
One feather
Floating down
To graze my shoulder.
Only Crow
By my right ear.
I give up,
Sit motionless
Outside the world for days
Before I scream,
Without me
You don’t exist.
Laughing,
Crow whispers it back.
Mulgrave Road Theatre Ekphrasis 2021
Pam was a participant in Ekphrasis 2021 at Mulgrave Theatre, Guysborough, NS, reading her poem The Chairs inspired by Renee Sagebear’s painting Vilage.
The Chairs
Pam Calabrese MacLean
Did you know the old couple?
They lived in the little red house
Just above the ocean.
They had lawn chairs.
Two.
Bright yellow.
Mini suns on a small square of lawn.
Shining even when it rained.
When I first saw the chairs
They were snugged up to one of two
Perfectly tended flower beds.
The couple sat talking,
Animated
Over a cuppa.
Next time I passed,
The chairs faced each other,
The couple knees to knees.
Summer became shy smiles,
Shared waves
Anticipation:
Where would they be today?
Seasons rolled over each other
As the ocean did the rocks.
Spring promised
And delivered
For ten years,
Each opening like
The forsythia in their yard.
I saw them together
Once
After I heard she was ill.
It was evening,
All light faded
As he carried her to the chairs,
An offering.
A prayer.
When she fell asleep
He joined me near the breakwater,
Told me a story:
Their first day in this house,
He pointed out
The stone steps to the church.
He told her, Our very own path to heaven.
She answered,
No love, you are my heaven.
When the woman died
The man hid inside the house
And the chairs,
Danced on in the dark
A new arrangement
Every morning.
I was mesmerized.
I’d stand on the path,
Transfixed.
I began to walk past the house
At odd times.
All times,
As if I had something to prove.
I saw him in the shadows
After midnight,
Shifting the chairs.
He spoke to me: I’m tired of pretending.
He placed a hand on a chair,
Bowed.
And with a theatrical flourish
Invited me to sit.
We sat.
Together.
Nowhere to be but here
At the end of their story.
Pam's Words 