The Man Who Wants to Swallow You Whole – by Z Hall

~Z. Hall

Guest Editor Z. Hall is a poet whose work often features ekphrasis, and explores race, gender, and culture. She is an essayist and has served as a PEN Prison Writing Mentor. She is currently a writer-in-residence at the Charlotte Street Foundation. As an art writer and scholar, her peer-reviewed publications include works on Beyoncé and Jay Z’s ‘Drunk in Love,’ the field recordings of Stephen Wade’s “The Beautiful Music All Around Us,” emergence of the Christian film industry in Lindvall and Quicke’s “Celluloid Sermons,” and the political cartoons of the 2005 Muhammad Cartoon Controversy as rhetorical art, among other works. Hall is the Executive Director and Producer of Salon~360, a monthly, Kansas City regional event that brings together artists whose work focuses on challenging societal issues, for which she was awarded an ArtsKC Inspiration Grant.

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Form: Female – by Z Hall

curves soft & sweet
to the taste
feel
sight

form
in possession of mind,
plans, goals
for her life
today
every tomorrow
uncaptured by
the shutter

form
with ideals
independent thoughts
ambitious goals
legitimate as her sculptor’s

form
pulsating creativity
from mammary glands
to generations
generations
generations, &
generations
of artistic forces
of nature
in their own
right
yet
none drips from
the painter’s brush

touching the warm,
velvet canvas
swells the envy of
those
similarly loving
nude
or is she naked
undulating motion
displayed
made available for gazing,
imagining

because her
form is female

~ Z Hall

In celebration of International Women’s Day 2017 and a more gender equal world for all.

Guest Editor Z. Hall is a poet whose work features ekphrasis, and explores race, gender, and culture. She is an essayist and has served as a PEN Prison Writing Mentor. She is currently a writer-in-residence at the Charlotte Street Foundation. As an art writer and scholar, her peer-reviewed publications include works on Beyoncé and Jay Z’s ‘Drunk in Love,’ the field recordings of Stephen Wade’s “The Beautiful Music All Around Us,” emergence of the Christian film industry in Lindvall and Quicke’s “Celluloid Sermons,” and the political cartoons of the 2005 Muhammad Cartoon Controversy as rhetorical art, among other works. Hall is the Executive Director and Producer of Salon~360, a monthly, Kansas City regional event that brings together artists whose work focuses on challenging societal issues, for which she was awarded an ArtsKC Inspiration Grant.