That is not my skirt : first published in CopperBird One (2017)

by Sharon Ashton



‘The skirt was one that Sargent brought on his sketching
trips from London…’
National Portrait Gallery: John Singer Sargent exhibition catalogue

He brought it with him to Corfu,
and out of the blue asked if I would
be kind enough to put it on,
and he didn’t wish to hurry me,
but the sun was falling in such a way,
that if I could just angle myself so,
sweep the skirt around me so…
Do you see? Do you see a vessel to hold liquid light?
White emulsified to green to grey to lilac-pink,
pooling in folds of palest blue?




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