Creating more illustrations for project 3

Creating more illustrations for project 3

Undated

Here is the new poem I am focusing on:

Sing Me a Hymn of Sin 

I join you in the shadowed pew,

Head in the valley of your hands.

Darkness stretches across your face,

It cows away from heaven’s light.

Your eyes are wells of something black,

Drowning like the shadows above.

‘Come to the church,’ you said last night.

‘Come meet me in the sunken hours.’

I watched your lips move as you spoke,

Your whisper reaching out to me. 

Most lovers talk of shining eyes, 

But yours buried something so deep. 

So now I sit down at your side, 

A thousand words I cannot say.

This flame between us holds my hand,

The hand that wields the bloodstained sword. 

I’ve seen you like this all my life,

Your body bent in reverence,

The clean fist of your spine looming

From under your pristine white cloak.

I gaze at the back of your head,

The stubbled skin, nape of your neck,

Your God will not let me repent, 

He knows I am your only sin. 

My feet have carried me through fields

That your God gazes down upon,

Littered with the debris of man, 

To deliver me back to you. 

I listen to you breathe – you say,

‘I can smell the war on your skin.’

The ruby smears across my hands,

I washed away but still I see. 

‘I feel the dwelling in your soul.

Tame it, but don’t leave it alone.’

Your voice is low and quivering, 

You try your best, hold it within. 

But we both know there is no chain, 

No confession or burning shame 

That could rip out our roots for good,

My heart pumps and bleeds by this truth. 

I’m watching as your paper jaw

feathers and yields to me no more.

The tension tucked into your spine 

would fold under my fingertips. 

‘There’s only room for silence here.

Not an absence of noise or fear,

But a state of mind grasping peace,

I hear your misfortune’s heartbeats.’

Your cold fingers dive through my hair,

Cradle of your palm bows my head.

I shut my eyes when you retreat, 

You lock us in our torn embrace.

I’m pulled into your silent prayer, 

A place that should only be yours.

Your God can’t look me in the eye, 

We build our own funeral pyre. 

This silence of mine doesn’t give;

It isn’t holy or a gift. 

Lurking behind these vacant eyes,

Are battles keeping me alive. 

But I swear as I sit with you,

two boys, one godly, one godless,

Dear God, what do you do to me?

I feel like a fucking saviour.

- I am not the greatest at poetry so I was unsure what exactly the meaning to this poem was, so I decided to ask my friend who wrote the poem

- she told me that it was about forbidden love between two gay men - set in the medieval times

- I decided to primarily focus on the two men who are in love, I wanted to capture this in a romantic way - I drew these two men mid kiss

- I love the style of this, I took inspiration from COURTNEY L ELLIS

- I decided to add more of a dark and contrasting background splodge which I think really brings the piece together

- using the colour blue within the piece also represents faith and heaven - all related to religion

- the contrast of the white, black and blue really compliment each other!

- this would be the piece that has the poem on

- I personally think this poem would be great to finish the zine on as it is purely about love (despite forbidden in this case) but it has a really nice vibe to it which I think would be great for ending this zine

- the small illustration of the hand with a cross on a necklace helps emphasise religion and what the poem is about - it shows the contrast