{"id":4563,"date":"2023-05-05T10:11:53","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T17:11:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/?p=4563"},"modified":"2024-12-06T09:17:18","modified_gmt":"2024-12-06T17:17:18","slug":"self-portrait-as-sycamore-in-copper-pearl-by-kathy-fagan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/self-portrait-as-sycamore-in-copper-pearl-by-kathy-fagan\/","title":{"rendered":"“Self-Portrait as Sycamore in Copper & Pearl” by Kathy Fagan"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"issue66\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Found in\u00a0Willow Springs 66<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back to Author Profile<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n

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“Self-Portrait as Sycamore in Copper & Pearl” by Kathy Fagan<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

I may look smooth<\/p>\n\n\n\n

shouldered just stepping<\/p>\n\n\n\n

from the soak, my planes<\/p>\n\n\n\n

flushed pink, angles<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ocher, my tresses<\/p>\n\n\n\n

oxidizing in reverse,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

but take a long hard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

look. Take a biopsy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Interrogate my juices<\/p>\n\n\n\n

under your scope &<\/p>\n\n\n\n

you’ll survive as I have<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the sylvan hallelujah<\/p>\n\n\n\n

moment, bullion bars<\/p>\n\n\n\n

fanning through the showy<\/p>\n\n\n\n

oaks & maples & the sweet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sweet gums. When blue is<\/p>\n\n\n\n

dominate all over<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the earth, atmosphere is king<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the air so hammers-on-<\/p>\n\n\n\n

strings so perfect it steals the<\/p>\n\n\n\n

voices right off<\/p>\n\n\n\n

the birds. In the double-dutch<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sunlight of American mid-October,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

therefore, I may look like a<\/p>\n\n\n\n

pearl, but try stopping one,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

their cheeks packed with<\/p>\n\n\n\n

gold, silver, & blood.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Observe their divots<\/p>\n\n\n\n

& dents. Likewise, I<\/p>\n\n\n\n

am flawed, with flaking<\/p>\n\n\n\n

crusts, molds, blighted bits,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

& not a few limbs dead<\/p>\n\n\n\n

as a gelding’s part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I know the need to admire<\/p>\n\n\n\n

one’s cream blushes & metallic<\/p>\n\n\n\n

finishes, to take a copper<\/p>\n\n\n\n

leaf for your collection<\/p>\n\n\n\n

& break the ricochet<\/p>\n\n\n\n

silence en plein air<\/em> with your<\/p>\n\n\n\n

sighs. But understand, rainlight<\/p>\n\n\n\n

is the truest pearl,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

my ugly friend,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

with whom I have neither<\/p>\n\n\n\n

inhibitions nor differences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":25234,"featured_media":700,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wpo365_audiences":[],"wpo365_private":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4563"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25234"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4563"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":37461,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4563\/revisions\/37461"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inside.ewu.edu\/willowspringsmagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}