The Gnome
after John Hoyland
No longer kitsch, suburban cliché,
I’m thrilled to be here, centre-stage,
nail varnish red and luminous! Here
my cap’s no jester’s headgear, it’s hot,
a sweet chili pepper – it is a capsicum.
Eat your hearts out skinny tiger stripes,
you’re sidelined, trashy black and yellow,
un-joyfully straight up, while I’m a kiss curl,
a coiled spring, the main attraction, ready
for action, no longer mythical I’m real:
no ray of sunshine will turn me to stone,
I’ll keep dancing, ring-a-ring-a-roses round
and round, with none of your all fall down.
Susan Utting
‘I was immediately drawn to the brightly-coloured central figure, and to the sense of joyful movement of John Hoyland’s Gnome, who is showing off and loving every moment of our attention. I wanted to give voice to The Gnome, to let him be heard proudly celebrating his new-found status as the subject of a work of art.’
Susan Utting is a much-published Reading poet. She has a particular interest in ekphrastic poems (responses to other works of art, often paintings)
