Blue Mountain Arts Poetry Contest

Diptych
by Isabel Li

THirty-Ninth
Contest
Second Place

Sometimes I like to imagine that we’re
two portrait paintings on a colorless wall:

created as a set yet confined
to the ambits of independent canvases;

separated by a gap between our
frames, the silhouettes gaze

in opposite directions from disparate
settings (your disposition settles

amidst sharp strokes of saturated
earthy tones, a mountain of unparalleled

proportions made grander by the
turquoise ocean plane upon which I

survey), albeit with matching
wistful expressions. Yet no matter

how far the curators of the exhibition
choose to stretch the disjunction

of our diptych, I remain fulfilled
knowing: distance will never change

our complementary natures.

About the Author

Isabel Li is a writer studying in Claremont, California. When she’s not actively brainstorming ideas for her next story or poem, you can find her sculpting, drawing, or indulging in a Romantic-era symphony.