Kathryn Pallant

On an offering to Saint Rita by Yves Klein

No — not at the shore teased by
blush light, but in the grotto:

interleaving of shadows
poled by travellers in exploratory boats,

mettled by battles at the cliffside.
May all that emerges from me be beautiful.

The granted wish is aqua breathed to the dome
of caves by the singing of boatmen,

aqua lit by torches glinting on the stone
as stars light the blue paint night

of the duomo. These blues are vivid
as the visitation of Saint Rita by bees,

their nudging true between her lips
to emerge, gold-shrugged, faultless.

Be empty. Be spent. Be laden
with a just journey and a box, offertory,

open to arrangements of ultramarine,
cat’s tongue pink, leaves of gilt.

Go now — cross thresholds reverent
as the nun at Cascia seeking gold

for the restoration of the cupola.
Go, under the dome of darkness,

retrieve the box surely to do with
art, perhaps even its essence —

see her cradle the ex voto and yearning —
may all that emerges from me be beautiful.

Kathryn Pallant is a British-Australian writer. Her poems have appeared in PN Review, Under the Radar, Antiphon, The Moth and elsewhere. She has a PhD in creative writing from the University of Manchester and has taught at Lancaster University and the University of Manchester.

Kathryn wrote the following about ‘On an offering to Saint Rita by Yves Klein’:

This poem sprang from the story of Yves Klein’s pilgrimage to the shrine at Cascia, which is dedicated to Saint Rita, the patron saint of lost causes. Without identifying himself to the nuns, Klein left an offering of a box containing pigments, gold leaf, and a message to Saint Rita.  

No more was thought of it until the nuns were looking for gold to use in the restoration of their sanctuary. They remembered the box and sought it out. Their discovery is commemorated in David Bordes’ gorgeous photo “Sister Andreina with the Ex Voto...” which, along with Klein’s longing, is at the heart of the poem.