Assailant sculptor,
deliver the shape
from inside the raw block.
As you patiently hammer,
each flake of bone
surrenders to your vision.
Though the critics cry butchery,
remember how you spent yourself
in the rhythm of the chisel
to expose the blue vein.
Published in Cider Press Review, Volume 23, Issue 5.
Emily August is an associate professor of literature at Stockton University, where she teaches courses in 19th-century British literature and culture, medical humanities, literatures of crime and detection, and creative writing. Her scholarly research examines literary, clinical, and visual representations of the body, and the role of the sciences in perpetuating violence against the body. Her poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize, and has appeared in Callaloo, Cimarron Review, Missouri Review, Ninth Letter, Southern Humanities Review, and other journals.
See all items about Emily August
