Poem by Shaun Lawton

~description of an illustration by Richard A. Kirk~

to me, this illustration is about
the power of literature, how
an elephant never forgets, and why
our dear reader, whose open book
has sparked a flame, is rooted and
transformed to the spot, grown
long and tactile fingers like
branches caressing lost fables
as shown to us since childhood
by a winged angel who must breathe
through a mutated gas mask hooked
into a chambered nautilus
whose feelers entwine and
become the umbilical connection to a post
wishing star story. i believe
the sunken leaning building faded
in the background is the real world.

by shaun lawton