"I AM: Proud" to Create--Susan Peña's Poem Inspires Artist Ellen Finks

"Duende" acrylic by Ellen Finks*

Ed.: As part of Studio B Art Gallery's "I AM: Proud" project, local writers and artists were encouraged to respond to the theme.

By Susan L. Peña**

DUENDE

The music calls her forth,

her black shawl a shroud
covering her face.
Then her ocean-green eyes
appear above its edge,
and she is a country laundress
flirting with a passerby,
until she flings it high
and it becomes a condor
circling her head and diving
for its prey, and all the while
her drumming feet telegraph
the intricate beats of the compás.

And she puts on the crimson skirt,
its long train whipping
and snapping about her body
like the tail of an angry lioness
until it lies coiled like a serpent,
inert, vanquished as she steps away.
Again her feet, drumming, drumming,
create electricity through the room,
as the silver-voiced singer finishes
his sublime song and the guitar dances
and roars, and her face,
slick as if caught in sudden rain,
glows in the hot lights.
Having emptied her soul
of all she has to say for now,
she strides into the dark wings.

* Ellen Finks spent her career as a classical performing flutist--one that required the utmost precision. No mistakes allowed! In retirement, she took up painting to try something new--painting with the free and independent spirit of Susan's dancer. 

** Susan Peña, a freelance writer, has appeared in numerous publications, as a guest on Marilyn Klimcho's "Poet's Pause" on BCTV, and produces and hosts her own show "Pub Date with an Author."  

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