Poison in the Stone

poison
in the stone
poison in skeletons
shells and remains

contagion
heavy metals
plumbed into the depths
contamination concealed

art and nature
share the chemical deceit
perfection becomes an illusion
covering the flaws
of our creation

beauty
has made
a mask for its own face
it suffocates the artist
with its effigy

Eve
or Adam
the first humans of all
are now only reflections
in the sicknesses
of the sea

© BH, 2019

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This poem is the second of two inspired by the story (linked below) of Gillian Genser, a Toronto artist, whose 14-year project to sculpt Adam from mussel shells and other found natural materials, left her suffering from heavy metal poisoning. 

As she says on her website, '…I had become part of my artistic statement.'

That's perhaps the paradox of our time. We are all part of the planetary artwork. We can't separate ourselves from it. What ever, injures it, injures ourselves.

I originally wrote the first poem, Art Poisons the Artist, as eight lines preceding the twenty-four here but, the sense of the eight seemed to ask not to be complicated. This second poem, Poison in the Stone, reiterates, restates and maybe repeats the theme. You can judge whether they are best as separate, if connected, entities.

Art Poisons the Artist 

BBC Website

Poisoned by Art