Weight of the Contour

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A detailed pencil sketch of a smiling woman holding her sunglasses, featuring lines and shading.
Image by Riki32 from Pixabay- Edited by Marilyn Glover with Canva



A Jungian-inspired exploration from the forthcoming debut chapbook, Shadow’s Reprieve


The following poem will be featured in my late May 2026 chapbook, Shadow's Reprieve, a poetry collection inspired by Carl Jung's theories. In this poem, I compare shadow work to pencil sketching, speaking of a frustrated artist, one who fears sharing their creations with the world.


Weight of the Contour



My pencil art: outer lines
Traced and retraced, bled into a drawing—
Dark and distracting
Overburdened, a sketch leans too much on boundaries
Interior details lack eye appeal
leaving the contour to defend itself

Right hand dominates
Creating only for my eyes to see—
Unhindered, free-flowing
Art display thwarts my process
Blocking my abilities, revealing a left-handed visual
Unnatural, confusing; I prefer a personal sketchbook

Erased lines, pencil smudgings
I am a frustrated artist
Internal structure: features, planes, shapes—
Nothing looks right
Detail, dimension, texture— fail
I cannot fill in the boundaries; negative and positive space
A blending shame, I retrace outlines
Contour stands on its own
My weight to carry

This poem is a glimpse into the themes of my upcoming collection, Shadow’s Reprieve. If these words resonated with you, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments—and please follow this blog to stay tuned for more from the chapbook.









Location: New York, NY, USA

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