Poetry Pause is the League of Canadian Poets’ daily poetry dispatch. Read “Sculpture” by Eleonore Schönmaier.

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Sculpture

By Eleonore Schönmaier

He sketches wind turbines

and enters abandoned

buildings. Lays down partial

floorboards. Cuts

holes in walls. Avoids

military conscription.

Avoids jail. He forgets his identity

card at home. Avoids getting

arrested. Smuggles

white canvas into the derelict

buildings. He wears paint splattered

sandals, and walks softly.

She never knows when he’s out

or in. He calls her his Russian: her waist

length hair, green eyes. Cooks her cups of tea.

Asks her, Why do you only paint faces?

Collects burgundy and green

rocks for her. Cuts

cactuses and sets them out on ceramic

plates. Waits for her to find human shapes

in the plants, in the stones.

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Copyright © Eleonore Schönmaier

Previously published Prism International.

Field Guide to the Lost Flower of Crete was released to critical acclaim in 2021 (McGill-Queen’s University Press). Wavelengths of Your Song (MQUP) was published in German translation as Wellenlängen deines Liedes (Parasitenpresse, 2020). Dust Blown Side of the Journey (MQUP) was a finalist for the Eyelands Book Awards 2020 (Greece). She was commissioned to write three songs by Greek composer Panos Gklistis (premiered in 2024).

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