Hilary Biehl
Sorceress's Song
The roads to my heart are all twisted, unpaved,
and littered with venomous snakes, but the toads
you'll meet on the path aren't princes who've braved
love's hazards and lost—they really are toads.
The birds in my garden sing tunes no one knows,
and nobody hears them—a fortunate thing—
and the thorns round the doorway aren't sheltering a rose,
and there's nothing I want that a suitor might bring.
The Woman Marries Sagittarius A*
They look at her with admiration and a touch
of pity, noting how she tends to clutch
the orchids with both hands,
climbing the stairs towards something no one understands.
The aisle is galactic in its length. The groom
is nowhere to be seen. The guests all step back, making room
for the flower girl, whose eyes are red,
and the bride with ivory planets around her head.
An aged astronomer presents the ring.
He pauses near her knuckle, pondering,
but finally gives back her hand,
no longer hers. The people marvel at her self-command.
Later, there's the prickle of champagne
like starlight in the mouth. A meaningless refrain
repeats itself in the bride's head.
The cake has vanished—there is only bread,
and hunger at the heart of everything,
and too much matter in a small space, and she twists her ring
a little nervously. She tries
to pack her billowing self into a reasonable size
but it's not working, nothing fits.
There's darkness yawning everywhere she sits,
and guests are laughing, and the astronomer's explaining
what he knows, or guesses, and it's raining,
and she drops the wilted orchids on the floor.
She can't take any more
bright hypotheticals, enlightened objectivity. It goes
against the gravity of what she knows.
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| Anna Lee Hafer is a studio artist based in the Philadelphia area whose work is heavily influenced by such famous surrealist painters as René Magritte, Salvador Dali, and Pablo Picasso, all of whom strove to build their own realities through small glimpses into a particularly confusing, but utterly unique worldview that dictates its own specific set of instructions. With references to the laws and physics of Alice's Wonderland, the artist challenges the audience's inherent understanding of perspective, reality, and universal order.
In her work, Hafer pours and layers paint to create dimension and texture, mixing different styles and colors onto each other until they produce a 3D effect. Through marker and pencil that create shadow, she further enhances these forms and separates them from the background. Heavier layers and thicker brushstrokes in the foreground of her work push the painting toward the viewer, whereas the thinner layers and small brushstrokes in the background, elongate the space and push away from the viewer. By juxtaposing interior and exterior elements, Hafer makes the audience question whether they are looking at something inside or outside.
For additional information, please visit www.hafer.work.
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