Sarah Mangold
The Beholder is Embodied Repetition
For Leonora Carrington
I seek goddesses
with specific
choreography
I do not linger
midst cities
temples
and particulars
I witness
layer upon layer
of subtle bodies
miniature
constellations
uncanny
public projects
I outline
passive mirrors
theater
opera
astronomer
temporary explosions
of flowers
I prefer textures
like velvet
clouds of description
unpunctuated streams
of ball bearings
Sarah Mangold is the author of The Atom (Wave Books, 2023), a chapbook inspired by the visionary work of Swedish artist and medium Hilma af Klint. She has published five poetry collections, including Her Wilderness Will Be Her Manners (Fordham University Press, 2021), selected by Cynthia Hogue for the POL Prize, and In the Service of the Mysteries (Saturnalia, forthcoming 2027), which continues her exploration of af Klint’s life and art. Originally from Oklahoma, she now lives and works in Edmonds, Washington.
Sarah Mangold is the author of The Atom (Wave Books, 2023), a chapbook inspired by the visionary work of Swedish artist and medium Hilma af Klint. She has published five poetry collections, including Her Wilderness Will Be Her Manners (Fordham University Press, 2021), selected by Cynthia Hogue for the POL Prize, and In the Service of the Mysteries (Saturnalia, forthcoming 2027), which continues her exploration of af Klint’s life and art. Originally from Oklahoma, she now lives and works in Edmonds, Washington.