Notation on a Picture Postcard

“Sally Clark, (1883-1982) Adventurer, Sculptor,
Co-founder of the Society of Woman Geographers”

 

Library of Congress photo
Number Two-Nine-Nine-Two shows
Sally Clark and bear in meadow.

Wet nose thrilling, sunlight
on his back, the bear’s upright,
massive but not up to her height.

Capped, flounce at the bodice,
long skirt circa Twenty-Eight,
she leans in, hands up, fearless.

Did she also cast this bear,
another of her sculptures,
in bronze? When was that––and where?

The Net is mum, preferring
the Sally Clark from Devizes,
accused of infanticide,
who died of too much drinking.

from Fracas & Asylum (David Robert Books, 2013)