Andrew Vickery’s “Untitled Swans” interpretation of Cecilia Vicuña’s “Aran Ouipu”

S D F
O O L
F W U
T N F
F 

The swans discuss. 
Gossip they love
while forming their raft.
“Have you heard?
Down the hall something like our feathers fall.”
Here-in they tell us of the nimbus clouds of Aran
clumps.
So fine and soft, they beg us to touch their strands
sometime.
Communicating with their knots to our minds.

What would the sheep’s wool say to these foolish cygnets?
“Pull your head out of the water and look at us.
Be there something below,
Some morsel, mystery, or foe?
We must know!
Please swan o’ tell us so.
Exist we do as do you.”

“Ignore you I mean not.
For my ears burn from this incessant lot.
And tender creature of the deep
My bills begs must keep.
What would you have me eat
O’fluffs of pure white snow?
Why biggest my attention so?”
“Before we become weave,
We need you to see!
Strong links we have to nature and sea.
The F A T
E P E
E P X
L E T
A U
L R
E
are we.” 

For them it is gossip,
for us dear swan
desire.
Should we restrain our
Human inclinations,
or like the bright white swans
plummet into temptation?

Originally from Hattiesburg, Karen Winstead, currently resides in central Mississippi with her husband, daughter, and a sometimes-cantankerous pug named Ozzie. She works as a full-time nurse providing care in the field of mental health but still manages to carve out time to volunteer in her community at various organizations and museums. She has always been a fan of the arts, drawing for enjoyment while in grade school as well as participating in Band, Chorus, and Show Choir. Recently she was fortunate enough to go abroad through the University of Southern Mississippi Study Abroad program. It was on this trip that she received the inspiration to write “Andrew Vickery’s ‘Untitled Swans’ interpretation of Celia Vicuña’s ‘Aran Ouipu’” which is an ekphrastic piece based on the painting ‘Untitled Swans’ and a contemporary Fiber Art piece, ‘Aran Ouipu’, both on display in the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin. Karen is an avid traveler who loves to explore and tries to take a trip, no matter how small at least once a year to broaden her knowledge of culture in the world outside her door. She is currently a senior in the Library and Information Sciences undergraduate program with hopes to advance further in her educational journey while continuing to explore her creative side.