After Jack Hamm
Sketch the sweeping curve of shoulder
and hip. Keep joints supple in their sockets,
muscles at rest or run, legs fully aloft as
Muybridge showed: exposures of Sallie
Gardner in stop-motion. Shade the horse’s
zygomatic crest, see how the skull’s empty
spaces form the face. Bone embossment
is nothing to sneeze at, though reckoning
with showy biceps is a must. Some torsos
lend themselves to box treatment, so
the cow is the best professor of anatomy.
Stop and study Holsteins, fore and aft.
Observe the bear’s body simplified: they
are adroit at warding off people who enjoy
drawing. The quagga has a lesson
for us all: if I had known that erasing
was allowed, I’d have drawn sooner.
USask's MFA in Writing Variety Show 