Phoebe Barcomb
Artist Statement
My poetry here features ekphrasis from two other artists, as well as some ekphrasis from my own works of art. When looking at the art featured here, I examine what it makes me feel, and how I can personify the art in the form of a poem. That's why I use the first person point of view a lot in my poetry. The narrator within the poem isn't me, per se, but they do reflect a lot of how I view the world. None of my poems have a concrete theme that connects them all, but I do find that they tend to ruminate on the concepts of love and existence, and how art plays a role in our lives as a connecting factor of those two. I just love how ekphrasis serves to combine art and writing, and I'd like to think of it as a love letter between the two mediums, so I hope you can see that in my poetry.
Hero Constructed
Inspired by the sculpture "Hero Construction" by Richard Hunt (1958)
If a human I am meant to be
Then my body would appear scarred
But I am simply an echo of the human
Of their heroic spirit
And the battles they have fought
I am a reproduction of the medieval knight
Made modern
My armor has scuffs and wounded divots
I have faced abrasive marks
and remarks
And yet for the love of this damage
that art has made of me
I never doubt the drive of humanity
to strive towards love
Towards meaning
I'd ask you to see me, really see me
With my posture straight and stance wide
Mismatched body asymmetrical
Gaze forward and unwavering
The guardian of those gates of artistic endeavor
I am a product of this worldly creation
The same as you
Listen closely now to what I declare
Companion of mine
I am the hero constructed
© 2026 Phoebe Barcomb
Archaeological Schema of the Ram
My heartbeat monitor is a crow
It rattles a low rumble in time with the machine
I ponder my death yet again
And wonder what will happen to these skeletal remains
I don't wish to be buried under a marked grave
If I could I'd rest beneath the tree roots
To nourish verdant life as mine own decomposes
The crow will build a nest in my branches
And I will grow again in yet another way
Till the rings number hundreds
And bone fragments mix with the Earth
My name forgotten to time
© 2026 Phoebe Barcomb
© 2019 Phoebe Barcomb. Crow and Skull. All rights reserved.
Still Life From High School
Exaggerated colors
Sit on blackboard back
I can see my mistakes as
I learned the technique
Of creating something
From nothing
The complexity of vines
Twisting upwards
The gaze of a woman's
Side profile in mirror
The lights on bottles
And lanterns
Nonsensical letters
Mimicked incorrectly
the red orange yellow
Of leaves placed
Ever so delicately
Like my pencil
To paper
As I press in color
Deeper yet deeper
This long past
Attempt at beauty
From younger days
© 2026 Phoebe Barcomb
© 2022 Phoebe Barcomb. Still Life. All rights reserved.
Geocentric Dare
Is it my right to tremble in fear
at the face of the unknown?
I want to know the planets in the way
the ancients did
Those people who saw the Earth
and thought
we are the center
Isn't there love in that?
Or is it just unearned pride
for this world we were simply born in?
I cannot answer.
All I know is that our place in this universe
is certain
As certain as those stars in the sky
© 2026 Phoebe Barcomb
© 2021 Phoebe Barcomb. Geocentrism. All rights reserved.
Stars
Inspired by Ken Gun Min, Silverlake Dog Park (Triptych), 2022
The fields of color
Resound from sunlight
It's no mistake
That what I see beyond
Is a facsimile of you
Gazing back
Godlike
You ask me if I worship
And I respond
Yes, I respond
You take advantage
Of my adoration
And I love you
All the more for it
But despite this reverence for you
I must look past
The idea of stars
And view the sun
For what it truly is
© 2026 Phoebe Barcomb
