{"componentChunkName":"component---src-templates-article-js","path":"/volcano-snake-sun-september-a-poem-by-ella-frears/","result":{"data":{"wordpressPost":{"id":117721,"slug":"volcano-snake-sun-september-a-poem-by-ella-frears","title":"‘Volcano Snake Sun, September’: A Poem by Ella Frears","excerpt":"‘I’m ashamed to be caught prim and separate:/ a topiary duck in the picturesque.’","content":"\n<p>In this ongoing series, we publish an original poem, written in response to a work of contemporary art. This month, poet Ella Frears chose <em>Volcano Snake Sun, September (2024)</em> by Charlie Prodger.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Charlie Prodger’s pencil-and pastel works-on-paper have, on their surface, a pleasing tranquillity. In <em>Volcano Snake Sun, September</em> (2024), for example, nature postcards are line-up neatly on a shelf, basking in a crossthatch of window-pane shadows and dappled light. Look closer and drama lies within: a snowy mountain-cap but a rocky peak breaking apart; a snake, coiled back and violent. These drawings marked a shift away (at least for now) from the more conceptual work that won the artist the Turner Prize; in their quietness, Ella Frears finds worlds we recognise as our own.</p>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"/>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<h2>Volcano Snake Sun, September</h2>\n\n\n\n<p><em>after Charlie Prodger</em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>Smoking hot mountain. Snake on the defensive.<br>What is it I’m holding here?</p>\n\n\n\n<p>The sun, though. The shadows of traffic<br>pulsating across a borrowed bedroom wall.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>Having observed me wandering a country garden,<br>a well-known poet points out that I keep my hands<br>in my pockets the whole time.</p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>You have to touch a garden,</em> she says.<br><em>How can you know a flower, if you haven’t lifted </em><br><em>its head and gazed into its face?&nbsp; </em></p>\n\n\n\n<p>I watch a group of elderly women feel up a wanton<br>clump of fennel. Every shiny frond shivering bronze.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I’m ashamed to be caught prim and separate:<br>a topiary duck in the picturesque.&nbsp;</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I want so badly to be the man who<br>swims butterfly in my local pool. The way he troubles<br>the waters, untroubled.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>I live for the wake. I am a device.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>A woman in the workshop believes in ‘The Power<br>of Eye Contact’. Her face hovers close to my face.<br>She’s locked on my eyes. She moves wherever they go.</p>\n\n\n\n<p>She’s so like a cobra. </p>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\"/>\n\n\n\n<p></p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Ella Frears is a poet based in London. She’s the author of </em>Shine, Darling (2020)<em>, shortlisted for the Forward Prize and the T. S. Eliot Prize, and </em>Goodlord (2024)<em>, a hybrid work which takes the form of one long email to an estate agent, also shortlisted for the Forward Prize. She hosts chat and music show </em>Tears for Frears <em>on Soho Radio. </em></p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https://artreview.com/category/new-poems/\"><em>Explore the&nbsp;</em>ArtReview<em>&nbsp;New Poems series</em></a></p>\n","path":"/volcano-snake-sun-september-a-poem-by-ella-frears/","format":"standard","date":"15 April 2026","rawDate":"2026-04-15T09:23:16.000Z","branch":{"name":"artreview.com"},"author":{"name":"Ella Frears","path":"/author/ellafrears/"},"category":{"name":"New Poems","path":"/category/new-poems/"},"featured_media":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Untitled_Artwork-3.jpg","caption":"Illustration by Walter Scott. © the artist","alt_text":"","media_details":{"width":2400,"height":1500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Untitled_Artwork-3-300x188.jpg","width":300,"height":188},"medium":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Untitled_Artwork-3-600x375.jpg","width":600,"height":375},"large":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Untitled_Artwork-3-1230x769.jpg","width":1230,"height":769},"wordpress_1536x1536":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Untitled_Artwork-3-1536x960.jpg","width":1536,"height":960},"wordpress_2048x2048":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/Untitled_Artwork-3-2048x1280.jpg","width":2048,"height":1280}}}},"acf":{"article_artist":null,"article_video":null,"article_audio":null,"article_collaboration":"","article_custom_html_snippet":"","article_featured_title":"","article_featured_description":"","article_highlight":false,"article_custom_link_url":"","hero_image":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CP_077_Volcano-Snake-Sun-September_Hollybush-Gardens_Photo-Andy-Keate10.jpg","caption":"Charlie Prodger, <em>Volcano Snake Sun, September</em>, 2024, coloured pencil on paper, 112 × 77 cm. Photo: Andy Keate. © and courtesy the artist. Courtesy Hollybush Gardens, London","alt_text":"","media_details":{"width":1413,"height":2000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CP_077_Volcano-Snake-Sun-September_Hollybush-Gardens_Photo-Andy-Keate10-300x425.jpg","width":300,"height":425},"medium":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CP_077_Volcano-Snake-Sun-September_Hollybush-Gardens_Photo-Andy-Keate10-600x849.jpg","width":600,"height":849},"large":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CP_077_Volcano-Snake-Sun-September_Hollybush-Gardens_Photo-Andy-Keate10-1230x1741.jpg","width":1230,"height":1741},"wordpress_1536x1536":{"source_url":"https://backend.artreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/CP_077_Volcano-Snake-Sun-September_Hollybush-Gardens_Photo-Andy-Keate10-1085x1536.jpg","width":1085,"height":1536},"wordpress_2048x2048":null}}},"seo_title":"‘Volcano Snake Sun, September’: A Poem by Ella Frears | 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