Within the maw of the oven - Poem by Raymond A. Foss

Like looking inside a Faberge
Like a living foundry of Hell
the maw of the oven
glowing orange and red

Into the mouth the glass went
hammered by the heat
dancing in motion and form
giving to the artist’s hands

May 3, 2010
reading the following poem, Glassworks” at the
1st meeting of a poetry group
at the Suncook Senior Center
in response to the reading by another of
“The Village Blacksmith”,
by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

&
http://www.mvglassworks.com/gallery.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faberg%C3%A9_egg

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Glassworks

Mesmerized, watching
The skill, artistry
Effortlessness in the heat
Of the sweating craftsmen
In the beach air
On the Vineyard

Living,
Molten glass, clear
Droop on the shaft
Entering the
Orange maw
Mouth of the furnace

Glow yellow
from the warming
Glistening wet
Grow with the blow
Liquid and free

Spin and catch
Supple flesh
Add color and form
Enter again
Translucence now
Hot gases
Fill the space
Wipe brow
Enter again

Cool and gel
Cut from the pipe
Clutched like a robin’s egg
By a toddler’s wonder
Placed to firm and harden
Into permanent wonder

Written 6/20/04 14:06, about Martha’s Vineyard Glassworks, somewhere I spent hours, over many summers in the 1990’s watching bowls, pitchers, pictures, and more, come to life.