Poem: Unintelligent Design

Unintelligent Design

By Donal Mahoney 
QuailBellMagazine.com​

An hour a day, 
sometimes more,
I chipped away 
with mallet and chisel
on a block of marble 
I found in Carrara
and shipped to New York 
on the deck of a trawler.

I offered the marble 
to a famous sculptor 
who told me he works
in granite only 
so I grabbed his beret 
and one of his smocks 
and said I'd sculpt 
the block myself 
with whittling skills
picked up as a kid 
from a drunken uncle 
named Whittling Sid.
 
Several weeks later, 
to my surprise, 
I finished the bust 
of a chimpanzee  
simply by wielding 
mallet and chisel 
the way I wield 
pencil and eraser 
when hewing a poem.
 
Working with marble 
or working with words, 
a sculptor or poet
proves less is more 
by chipping away
until something emerges
upright and walking
with a soul of its own. 

#Unreal #Poem #Sculptor #EvolutionOfArt #Chimpanzee #WorkingWithWords 

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