At the December 12, 2015 Art of Poetry event at Hickory Museum of Art, Brenda Smith reads her work in front of the colorful glass sculpture by John Littleton and Kate Vogel that inspired her poem.  Submissions for the next Art of Poetry on March 19 will be due by March 5, 2016. Photo courtesy of Roger and Ginny Sanford.

Brenda Smith
WATER SEEKING ITSELF
after “Acro Bags” by John Littleton and Kate Vogel

These bags are liquid
My life is liquid
I can hold water in a bag
And watch it seep and change so subtly
Bags and water melt in my hands
Colors, spheres, apples of the universe
Sending me a message
It is all water
In the beginning it was darkness
Void, and then the great creator
Parted the waters
Dry land appeared
Now water had containers
Shores, streams, creeks, ponds, lakes, oceans
But man has not the capacity
To hold a substance so fluid
So we invent the container
And worship the fluidity
And praise that which we have made
Our zealous effort to control
An element that only wishes
To flow on and on