Stephen Gibson
Stephen Gibson’s Self-Portrait in a Door-Length Mirror won the 2017 Miller Williams Prize, selected by Billy Collins, University of Arkansas Press. Earlier collections include The Garden of Earthly Delights Book of Ghazals (Texas Review Press), Rorschach Art Too (2014 Donald Justice Prize, Story Line Press), Paradise (Miller Williams finalist, University of Arkansas Press), Frescoes (Idaho Book Prize, Lost Horse Press), Masaccio’s Expulsion (MARGIE/Intuit House Book Prize), and Rorschach Art (Red Hen). His poems have appeared in such journals as The American Journal of Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, The Paris Review, Ploughshares, Poetry, Shenandoah, The Southern Review, and The Yale Review.
At the Grave of Abigail Smith, Aged 6, at Copp’s Hill Burying Ground in Boston
According to the gravestone rubbing company
the most popular rubbing waxes are black and rust
and, combined with Aqaba paper, these
(according to the gravestone rubbing company)
produce museum-like quality, so it’s a must,
when purchasing supplies, to order all three.
According to the gravestone rubbing company
the most popular rubbing waxes are black and rust.
Gravestone Carving at Copp’s Hill Burying Ground in Boston
What is it about a gravestone rubbing
that people will invest money in kits
for paper and wax to rub on something?
What is it about a gravestone rubbing?
Is it the skeleton extinguishing the lit
torch with Father Time behind laughing?
What is it about a gravestone rubbing
that people will invest money in kits?
Gravestone Rubbing at Copp’s Hill Burying Ground in Boston
What isn’t so special about a Death’s head
chiseled into the headstone of a girl
dead at eight days, probably in her bed?
What isn’t so special about a Death’s head
that one teen helping the other one unfurl
the roll of paper cracks up over the dead?
What isn’t so special about a Death’s head
chiseled into the headstone of a girl?