Red Halter
Clive Hicks-Jenkins

2001, conté on arches, 56x76cm

II. Jesus is given his cross

Skin
and splinter
and blood.

Cracked grain and tight knot
to be worked and eased
like a muscle strung in pain

and butting against rough wood.
Rough hewn it will weigh down
a line of vertebrae

and twist through years
into precious metals,
mother of pearl, soft
engraving and small pendant.

Dead wood will flower
and flow like the water
drawn on its grain.

Skin
and splinter
and blood.

From Stations of the Cross
By Callum James