Jason Stumpf
The Frontispiece
: an ornate braid
(some once called books little bodies)
cut from the daughter
of the man who etched
the plate (suffering
for art not the sole territory
of the artist). We found it
hiding out in the stacks—the book,
the picture rendered from life;
jeweled and pinned,
wound around here follows
and the title. Touch the page—
the strands
rough raised against our fingers.
Holding the paper to light
we saw the hidden
bird-of-paradise
on every page.
Jason Stumpf holds an MFA from Washington University in Saint Louis. His poems have appeared in LIT, New American Writing, Post Road, and elsewhere. He currently teaches English and Creative Writing at Providence College.