there's something to be said for the art that contradicts itself by Noel Ullom (17, Ohio)

there’s something to be said for the art that contradicts itself
          in search of a whole. for the paintings without image,
for the sculptures without body. I cling to the absence
          of meaning, and admire the reach
for nothing. I consider the mirror’s approach
          and wonder where the absence lies, if it has been
sketched or sketched itself in the form
          ​of my body, unfinished and hollow
as it is -

                                                            I am not the artist.
                                                                      I am not the model.
I am only the observer, observing
          ​as my body takes the form of glass
and stands still for polishing; I am only the girl
          ​who knows art as restraint and its erasure
as freedom, etched into a world where attempting
          to capture a moment means tripping
over the next -
                                                            ​I stand still.
I stand still as the observers walk
          by and when they stop. I stand still,
dust collecting on my lips, when they
          stare a bit too long and announce
                                                            ​“I see nothing in it.”