Because I could not afford to live with her 
in the 5-by-6-foot form of her birth, 
I brought her home from the Memphis gallery 
the only way I could, as a postcard 
now worn and much moved while she 
graced decades of refrigerator doors. 

She has it all. 
Nature. Home. Expansion. Freedom. Cause for Praise. 
She claims her place unadorned, unconstricted. 

Undiminished by her tiny size she lives 
in unceasing awe, arms raised in echo 
of trees she stands among 
as she stretches toward sun-red sky 
beyond home’s open door. 

—After a painting by Nancy Cheairs:

Perfect Light (oil on canvas, circa 1985) by Nancy Cheairs

Copyrighted © by the artist. All rights reserved.
Image appears here with artist’s permission.

Sarah Scott

is the author of the mystery Lies at Six (Krill Press, 2012 & self-published, 2013) and has written for newspapers (The Seattle Times, The Olympian, Memphis Business Journal) and magazines (Billboard, American Cinematographer, Media Inc.). She has extensive experience as a writer/producer/director for television and other types of video production. Her poetry appears in the anthology Barricaded Bards: Poems from the Pandemic (Pisgah Press, 2021) and The Ekphrastic Review, and is on permanent display at the Olympia Center (WA).