POEMS
IRENE LATHAM
2nd Runner-Up, 2009 George Scarbrough Prize in Poetry
Virgin of the Rocks
-after the painting by Leonardo da VinciHe knows metal-point
cannot capture my skin,
nor red chalk; only
thick, tinted oil.
He releases the buckle,
the endless plait
of hair, gathers
me like water
through a tangled
net. I watch him
fill the jug with tender
precision, learn
love is delicate
as a knot on a scabbard,
gold- tooled and interwoven.
Irene Latham is a poet and novelist who lives in Birmingham, Alabama. Her book of poems What Came Before (Negative Capability Press, 2007) earned a 2008 Independent Publisher’s (IPPY) Award and was named Alabama State Poetry Society’s Book of the Year. She also serves as poetry editor for Birmingham Arts Journal.