The Hollow

I woke into a nightmare and you
were there, smiling into dark,
cavernous spaces, already calling them home,
translucent fingertips pressing my
stretching walls and me, aware of your
distant vibrations, unsettled and afraid.

I cannot conceive you as reality:
gauze hair, infinitesimal teeth,
film of flesh, aqueous eyes–my eyes,
staring back at me. I will
disengage you as my blood
creates you. I will unmake you
cell by cell as you swell
inside me; removing your need, your
wish, your want, piece by piece;
and make full again your only home
with my apologies.

Breathe by Maria Doering

Breathe by Maria Doering

About Billie Stiletto

Billie Stiletto holds a BFA from Mount Allison University where she studied letterpress printmaking and bookmaking. She has published two editions of handmade books, a book of poetry called The Salem Street Revival and an illustrated short story made in collaboration with artist Lydia Haywood-Munn called "The Origin of Silence." She is currently interested in exploring the complexities of mother/daughter relationships in her work.

About Maria Doering

Maria Doering is a German artist who moved to Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, in the summer of 2012 after living in Montréal for five years. She studied Fine Art at the Hartford Art School in New Jersey and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BFA in 2007, majoring in Printmaking with a minor in Art History, and having completed a semester as an exchange student in Cortona, Italy. In the fall of 2007 she relocated to Montréal and entered Concordia University to complete an MFA in Studio Arts, focussing again on Printmaking. Her thesis exhibition, Auflösung: Beyond the Surface, was displayed in the spring of 2010 with a body of work that pushed printmaking out of its two dimensions and into sculptural and installation work. She is teaching classes at NSCAD University in Printmaking and is planning to open the Maritime Center for Contemporary Print in Dartmouth over the next two years. Her works have been exhibited across Canada and the United States, including shows in Calgary, Montréal, Halifax, Chicago, Atlanta, Seattle, Hartford and Buffalo, as well as internationally in the UK, Denmark, Germany and Italy. Her work is represented by Swoon Gallery. You may also see more of Maria's work on her website.

One thought on “The Hollow

  1. Pingback: Breathe and Beneath the Surface in Understorey Magazine | Maria Doering Fine Art and PrintMaria Doering Fine Art and Print

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