Grace Within the Lines or Out

January 25, 2026 Poet: Steve Dieffenbacher Artwork: Grace by Alexis Mixter

Grace Within the Lines or Out

The figure stands before you faceless

from a chapel-like frame,

with sets of lines in twisting coils

like plant leaves or possible ropes

beneath a bodily shape in blue robe and cowl,

head as undefined as its body,

with haloed rays spreading up and out

as they might from a madonna

painted by Giotto.

Set in wood she carries the beauty of curves,

a hint of dance across a living being

with a possible heavenly faith

except for those verticals plunging

from hood to foot at the center,

freezing the figure as eternal icon

or maybe a resistance to it,

her declaration of selfhood.