The Secret Handshake Gallery
It’s been a long while since my last poetry feature. Tonight I’m reading at an art, poetry and music event at the Secret Handshake Gallery: 189 Mutual Street (upstairs). 6 pm. I’m not familiar with the space, but I like the masonic-sounding gallery name. In planning my reading I picked out a number of tarot poems including “The Hierophant” since I envisioned the inside of a masonic temple when writing it.
V. The Hierophant
He inhabits a secret
beyond the black and white
checkered floor,
between two grey pillars.
Around him are the masks
of misrule, the faces
of benediction.
Lion, bull, man, eagle –
he knows them all.
Friend of the blue Venus,
this hushed speaker
halts the unprepared
with one hand held in symbol.
To the seeker
he grants two golden keys,
but will not tell
what they unlock.
Copyright © Clara Blackwood 2011
