What Matters
Barbara Hepworth on politics
After a long time with persistent,
small movements, each one following
the effects of the last, the shape
becomes clearer, large chunks fall away,
air is let into stone.
Further in, planes flatten out, coil
into hollows. There are new
faces reflecting the sun.
It is hard work. Why shouldn’t it be?
It takes a hammer, a good ear
and plenty of patience
to let marble speak.
Now it is done, light dances,
discovering new places to bounce off
and hide.
Each day, a different focus.
Shadows reveal what was cut away.
There is the imprint of what it once was.
It is no longer just matter,
it has been freed into the exciting,
shifting spirals
of what is the matter.
Clare Wigzell is a Leeds-based poet who writes in response to place, nature and art. She performed and published her pamphlet on Hepworth at Leeds Art Gallery for Leeds Lit Fest 2020 and online for The Leeds Library.