Jan Price
underwater life size sculptures by Jason de Caires Taylor, near Cancun off the coast of Mexico
… an up-stir
shoots sand quick to slow sideways
as a grey stingray trails free of a dust-like cloud;
fluting cream underwings it flies away
low through the aged-blue ocean
soft-shadowing the newly reefed
vertical beings of deeper shades
as if here their height had yesterdays.
Sun shrapnels leisurely
through skylights of wave and wash
floating fragments down
dart-dappling waiting upturned faces
unaware
gathered they share shallow warmth
on sculptured flesh
and yet stone-alone
obsessed only with the act of drowning
in bliss – lips smiling eyes closed.
Now a cello growls;
vowels round all four hundred figures
its breath skimming
intimate as sharks’ silk circling newcomers –
a rolled-brim knit-hated girl lollypop-cheeked
grins double-gripping a coins-unspent handbag;
a woman bare-breasted drape-hipped
arms cradling her belly
offers light’s wisdom to her near born;
a man keeling head up leaning back on his heels
arms wide palms open offers thanks
as if in a lightening-blue field of drought breaking;
a nun with Please for a mouth
her face shadow-wrinkles in no other prayer;
a young man head-scarfed coral-knotted
hands at work but suddenly paused
senses love about his neck;
a man chin-relaxed blowing fish silver
bubbles mute sings ahhhh hymns;
a small curly crowned boy head down
sleeps sitting up without rippling fins;
a man arms crossed shields his face
from yet another promise soon to darken.
Shoals straining through the plankton melody
nibble from an English lady’s scarf
from a Buddhist’s large earlobe’s algae
from a mother’s orange sway-growing coat
from a hunched Chinaman’s toes.
And while fish of colours and stripes circumnavigate
feeding off the immortalised – all are unaware
souvenir hunters are dropping
black as frogs
snorkelling
against the light.
Jan Price’s poetry has been winning literary competitions (including her section in The Great River Shakespeare Festival Sonnet Contest, Minnesota, 2011), appearing in anthologies (such as Woman’s Work and Taking Flight), newspapers and literary journals in Australia and overseas for a number of years. Her artwork has appeared on book and journal covers.
Some truly unique images. Beautiful work.