POUR, TEAR, CARVE

Immersion

By Margaret D. Stetz 

—after Jae Ko’s Untitled, 2012

water enters bodies
sculpting curves
replacing bones and stiffness
with fluidity
stretching limbs
and twisting
as hands turn into
ripples
intertwining 
but as bodies enter water
they will also 
change the shape
of waves
and color with desire
encarmining
at the moment
of their
dye-
ing

Margaret D. Stetz is the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and Professor of Humanities at the University of Delaware. In addition to being a widely published poet and scholar, she has curated or co-curated numerous art and print culture exhibitions at venues ranging from Harvard University's Houghton Library to Liverpool Central Library, UK. Her most recent book is an exhibition catalog: Aubrey Beardsley, 150 Years Young (Grolier/ Univ. of Chicago Press, 2022).