"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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