Jessica Dawn Zinz
IMAGE DESCRIPTION: “Lie Still and Quiet” is a poem in the form of a collage. The text is arranged like cut-up words on a collaged background. In the background, abstract shapes of oranges, reds, blues, and greens. They are cut out from sea life images, coral, and ocean plants. Also in the background, rows of hand-drawn golden circles about the size of a peppercorn. The rows are of varying lengths and the circles vary in terms of how far apart they are from one another, as well as how close each row is to the next row, creating some areas of dense gold circles and other areas of spread out rows of circles. In the bottom right corner, a woman wearing a pink blouse has her hands above her head, fingers combing through her hair. She is seen from the pelvis up and her blouse is open, exposing her chest. However, her bare chest has been replaced with ocean blue background. Emerging from her chest is a large shark. The text of the poem reads: “You draw a shark in the murky waters / of your body and the shark is not moving / It is not bleeding but the heart is purple /
and compressed against a long bone // When the muscle does not slip
underneath the bone / your body coils around the brain // When you
back away from the shark / you try to draw your soft belly in the blue-
ness / But the black lines fall in the evening water / and lower deep into the gravel wash // Look around you / Your clothes are dry // You are bleeding / but you can drink the water / in your quiet world.”