If An Angel Will Come: In Memorium To Ilya Kabakov Poem by Mary Angela Douglas

(for the installation artist Ilya Kabakov, on a corner of his sky)
(and to Emilia Kabakov, who I think, surely must BE his angel)

if he paints the moon in a corner of the sky
it is because he knows there cannot be a page large enough
to contain either moon or sky

and so this is a gesture
a gesture made to perhaps angels
angels he has left traps for

appropriately painted in pale rose
with golden scrolls on them and harps variously
lightly scented with violets from another era

in order to pose to them the one question
he has saved up to ask
since childhood.

does the moon know if the angels will come
will the sky become overcast
so that he will not know if they have come

if they have remained on the threshold
because of the sticky angel art gum
he positioned there

to catch them unaware
or so that their gowns are caught on a golden nail
just sticking up from the floorboard

since they are prone only
to look at each ceiling sistine like;
as if it were filled with stars;

the memory of Whose we are
and Who is looking for us.

mary angela douglas 2 june 2020