Ekphrasis: Exactly the Opposite of My Last Few Posts

In my creative writing class, our assignment for today was to write a poem based on a work of art. Lately I have been posting a lot about using visual art to convey emotions experienced through reading literature, but I had to do the exact opposite to fulfill this assignment, which has led me to this conclusion: Art understands art, and using different mediums to explore the same concept provides exponentially greater depth to the concept at hand. Anyway, here is my poem and the piece of art off of which I based it.

Norman Rockwell, "Freedom of Religion"

A Freedom

It is the second.

God comes second to our Voice.

But this choice is the heaven in the wrinkled hand.

This choice wrinkles the rosary

and smooths the conscience

and rocks the mind of the dark-haired man

who is highly logical, with his

hand on his chin and

no rosary in his hand.

Are those wrinkles evidence

of your devotion?

Emotion wrinkles the age spots that dictate

the course of action that runs

according to your conscience.

God-fearing protestant,

head bowed in humility,

eyes on the heaven of her wrinkled hands;

God-fearing Catholic,

head raised in confidence,

eyes on the heaven of her three-man God

who makes all men free.

Each has hands.

Each has a choice that

comes second to our Voice.

It is heaven and it smooths and rocks and wrinkles.