Joan Hall — Collage Artist, Poet

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Joan Hall is known for her artwork. Her collages and assemblages have been exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, including the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris and the Museo Rufino Tamayo in Mexico. She is a winner of the 2018 Miriam Chaikin Foundation award for her poetry. Joan’s poetry books Journey to Somewhere and Behind My Mind: Collages and Rhymes are available on Amazon. She has been a resident of Westbeth since 1971. For more about Joan, go to joanhallcollage.com.

Martini

My dearest friend and neighbor two doors down the hall
always made me a welcome martini
whenever I returned from a trip.
Before going to my own home
I’d ring his bell regardless of the hour.
I’d enter his apartment, luggage in tow
struck by the magic of his cabinet of curiosities.
Moroccan lamps hung over his table dimly lit and colorful.
On my left, a wall of antique African masks.
On my right, a Chinese opium bed.
Then, there were his Egyptian treasures
which he acquired from bartering his art.
His art … an assortment of relics.
In his museum assemblages
a snip of Madonna’s panties,
the lining of O.J. Simpson’s glove,
Sharon Stone’s cigarette butt,
and countless other amazing items.
Then there was his money art crafted from shredded currency
compliments of the U.S. Treasury.
In the middle of this enchanted environment
I sat at the table and was served a perfectly chilled vodka martini
by my Dear Barton who is with us no more.
I can still hear him rasp, “Use the coaster!”

His apartment was shipped to the North Dakota Museum of Art.
People can wander through.
I went to the opening and quietly made my way to the oriental bed.
I hugged the kilim pillow stuffed with his and his mother’s ashes
and silently said my last goodbye.

© 2022 Joan Hall