Willard Wigan
His miniature sculptures are like “passing a pin through a bubble without bursting it.” – Willard Wigan & “Ant-eye level art” – Maev Kennedy – Guardian 13.04.00
It can be like
balancing
an ocean liner
on a granule of
sugar.
It’s like
passing a pin through a
bubble
without bursting it.
Well yes, and, then again, no.
I want to get to the details;
turn time on a
sixpence
and turn a dropped
eyelash
into the bigger picture, a star
in the centre of a heartbeat.
Hold a mirror to your face;
if it so much as mists you’ve given up too much.
Let the blood not waver my hand,
get quiet enough to hear the brain’s commands
to take the body by the reins and say NOW.
Climb down from your charley horse.
There is no rehearsing this.
The Devil’s in the detail
and in getting him away from me.
A version of this poem has been recorded by Mat Riches on SoundCloud. Click here to listen.
Mat Riches lives in Beckenham, Kent, but will always have Norfolk in his heart. He is a father to Florence and a husband to Rachael, and by day he is a mild-mannered researcher in the TV industry. He has previously been published in Snakeskin Press. He is a recent graduate of The Poetry School’s Lyric iPod course. Twitter: @matriches
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