(A Respite from my Respite)

"A Poem and a Painting"
or
"Painting with Coffee Grinds"

Yes, I painted with coffee grinds, from a rakwa. (I dipped my brush directly into the rakwa.) As I was painting, I soon realized that although the coffee will stain the paper with a faint translucent affect, the majority of the grinds will not be permanent once the coffee dries, but will easily flake off. So I took a picture of the painting when I finished it, and another picture after I flaked away all the dried coffee grinds.

I give you both paintings (before and after flaking) and an accompanying poem.
(click on painting for a larger image.)

The Tapping of Brass

The tapping of brass

The tapping of brass

The unforgetfulness

Of my sorrow, My love

The wind sings me now

The wind comes

To pluck at the ropes of my core

And pull out smoothly the strings

Of my eyes

Until the desire of the clanking

Against the insides of my ribs,

Like the gurgling of hungry

Infant birds to be let free,

Builds infinitely with sound

Like ladder rungs to the heavens

The tapping of brass

A Bedouin woman,

Alone in the vast

Desert within my breast

Clad in black,

Clangs her brass belongings and sings

To wake any human from beneath the sands

Whisper tapping faint bones

From behind distant clouds

Awoken by pity to answer her

Fainter than remembrance of a spring

Without song, last war

The tapping within me

The wind through my eyes

The toppling of my bones

Like a rock pile that laughs

I am the last of this suicidal race

Finally atop these dunes,

With my open hands

© Ibn Bint Jbeil
"The Tapping of Brass" 1996
Coffee Painting 2007

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