art
by Joel-Peter Witkin, ‘Chick in Hell’ 1999 ©
|
window
staining the glass
lazy
Susan atop
pine
plank table
another
center
of
the universe
spins
the hooker
she
said it would be fun
I
say would a line of coke
add
to the festivities
she
said it wouldn't hurt
and
suddenly music was playing
it
seemed loud and soft
at
the same time
she
was multiplying limbs
and I
became lost
in
a paddle fan history
as
if this little vignette
was
written in
street
goddess take home
Peruvian pocket products
jump
starting packet turns
everything bleeding
into fingered fulgurite
into
kaleidoscopic
junkie
paradises
the
eyes of a thousand flies
are
shoved into this one moment
and
in order to feel something
on
the other side I had to go
through
each panel trapped
with
stain and desire
I
had to eat my way past
glitter
and sweat
through
a nose to navel routine
we
had developed
she
tasted like strawberries
it
reminded me of the lip gloss
the
girls in elementary school
would
wave about
enticing
me to steal
and
I did, so I could
ask
to clap the erasers
and
secretly consume
them
in my prepubescent sex fantasy
wrapped
in a waxy deliciousness
painting a dormancy
from
a time I already wanted
to
be all grown up
I
put my cheek
to
her ribs
lightning
flashing
a
cold drip
down
my throat
I
was listening
to
her breathe
she
says can I feel anything yet
I
said yes, I can feel it all
when
in truth, I was
completely
space capsule numb
inundated
with visual information
things
I could mis-describe
or
rather re-orient myself to
with
a feeling somewhere
deep
inside a childhood moment
an
interrupting brush
like
a leaky faucet
turned
waterfall
with
white ghosts
chalking outlines
in
the rhythm of her heaves
every
fantasy I had ever had
as
a school boy thief
every
frame filled
was
metal on memory
gaining
a fleeting
fleeing
bit of color
I
knew this wouldn't last
or
be very good for me
but
at the same time
I
realized, with my heart racing
and
my soul on fire for more
that
every once in awhile
I
needed to be swept
over
an edge
EJR
©
Fantastic poem EJR!
ReplyDeleteThank You for saying so, much gratitude...Edward
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