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Mystic Ink Plus Feb 2018
Challenged a portrait
It didn’t blink

I loss, so that she can win.
Genre: Love
Theme: Then, nothing matters.
Shared from my Anthology, Canvas: Echoes and Reflections, 2018.
A free portrait! Imagine that,
At no charge this troglodyte
Decided that I deserved a rendition in pulsing crimson, me!
He effortlessly sliced the curve of my face,
And then holding true to brute form,
Let his fists do the rest of the painting.
In a breath’s thought I fought the idea
That this strong browed man was a fan of
Yves klein, but then he caringly guided my sight
Floor-bound and I noticed that he was a
Monochromatic *******.

Now, I wasn’t expecting Monet,
But in truth the elegance of the lazy red river
Careening down my cheek and neck got my hopes up.

And then further was impressed by his liberalness
With bottomless black crimson
Where he’d only previously flirt with young pinot noir
As he took a break to wash and massage his stained hands
I clutched at the hope that perhaps he was done with the
Onslaught with such blunt tools,
As such methods could ruin the whole piece
Unfortunately, he returned
And his care for each swipe was becoming more

More impassioned, but less precise,
I asked if he perhaps needed a second break?
Perhaps I could assist him,
I wanted to give it a try myself, but my hands were
Tied.

In vain,
I tried to tell him that,
Perhaps,
His bearish skills and appearance,
Would be better suited to a life of leather, whips, and Oedipus Complexes,
But his response was,
Cutting.

You should never laugh at an artist
Especially the bad ones
Because then their work some how finds a way to get worse


I asked if he’d learned how to work from his father,
And whether his father had worked him in any
Other
Manner, and that’s when I became dizzy
I think.
Apparently struck a nerve.
Johnny Noiπ Jan 2018
Ur eyes consuming flames;
breath like sweet mint;
teeth like gnashing blades;
lips like soft licorice;
hair swept back & away;
ears pointed as suspected;
neck long & tubular;
chin stubbled;
shoulders tapering gently
away from ur wings;
breast full & new-
motherly; waist cinched
muffin-top; callipygean
behind & legs Jack would
would envy I climb; toes
ragged razors; feet sole
pumiced & pampered;
thou art my sole one as if
thee twere two; perennial
du jour; delicious as poison;
all I see is invisible
& all is all I see
hallee Jan 2018
I've been staring at a blank canvas..
Its cloth looking back at me,
With no sense of direction,
begging for inspiration.
A purpose maybe.
Something to guide it from its emptiness.
But I'm weak and my mind is tired.

Perhaps I have become too comfortable with the lifeless and colorlessness of this canvas that I have failed to realize..

I've been looking in a mirror all along.
Madhu Jakkula Jan 2018
You
Even after all this while,
the only music i want to hear, is your voice
the only portrait i want to see, is your smile
the only thing i want to feel, is your bare skin
the only ocean i want to dive into are your lips
the only poem i want to write, is you.
Craig Jan 2018
in someone's house, there's a photograph
it's framed by the front door, almost on display
it's there for visitors to see and believe
and I'm not quite sure how they fall for it.

in the photo is a happy family
a daughter, a mom, and a dad
all smiling and loving and caring and happy.
they see cheery, normal people.
hey deceived they must feel.

but the girl? she was a boy.
she was he who wasn't himself.
he was confined to a body of all pink and bursting with estrogen
he was she who was he who was trapped
and his father hated him.

yelling and shouting "christina! christina!"
tears falling like dumbbells on unsuspecting toes
"chris! chris!" he'd yell back
but only in his brain
because the daddy-daughter dances
had already been attended.

bruises from beatings that couldn't be healed
but the happy photo still hung in the hall
and even as chris watched the rings go
from left hands to right he still hid behind
that perfect, happy family.

and the people failed to see through it.
From a closeted trans writer to you.
Emma Cheung Nov 2017
Let me paint my kitchen in bright colours,
Let the morning light bounce off oranges and yellows.
Let me paint each bathroom tile with abandon,
And let each windowsill hold life.
I will build homes for my literature and
The walls will collect memories.

Leave the door open and the floor clean,
Leave the garden wild and the drawers crowded.
Let the wood have character and the rugs have texture.
Take care and let be.
aurora kastanias Oct 2017
The bold cupola at his summit reflects
neon lights from bulbs above, crowned
by precious thin silver hair, barely cascading
over a wide and wrinkled forehead.

Two dense detached bushy arches linger
to their original dark brown tone, only a few
white brow hairs are longer, magnified by opaque
thick lenses of plastic orange glasses,

resting on a disproportionately big red nose,
outshining round green eyes in venous sclera.
Falling cheeks of sad old dogs, Dumbo ears
hearing only through pale hi-tech gadgets.

Rotten teeth, some lost to empty spaces,
concealed by infolded arid purple lips,
in the midst of an unshaved beard tobacco
stains, where arch crumbs hide in disguise.

A bloated stomach denotes long lasting
faithfulness to a wife married ages before,
a ring castrating a swollen left annular
as he speaks on an archaic phone.

Dressed in an azure shirt meticulously
ironed, beige corduroy trousers, a maroon
jacket on his forearm, a worn out bowler hat
on the counter. I stare at his hunchback.

He stirs his coffee for much longer
than necessary in search of eye contact,
someone physical to talk to, furtively
swallowing a tablet or two gulping water.

Bringing his handkerchief to the mouth to be
proper, he drinks the boiling hot Italian brew,
with an air of surrender as drops inevitably fall
on his nice and shiny polished burgundy shoes.
On random portraits
"I was the same, but I was waiting for myself on the shore to return."  -   Murakami

 
IIt is a difficult time. You wait
for the return of yourself.
You sit on the pier, watching
pelicans pirouette in the air,
weightless for a moment

before diving into the water.
The sound of their splash
reminds you of something
you just can’t quite remember.
You sit there, eating fish after fish,

washing them down with beer.
You have started counting seagulls
and giving them long Spanish names.
You choreograph ballets, create architectural
drawings of dreams, and have begun to build

a home out of seashells. On weekends,
people come just to see you waiting
for your own return. “Where did you go?”
they ask, and you simply shrug.
You make new friends and take up painting,

creating self-portraits,  your image is repeated
like the latitude and longitude lines on a map.
Each morning, you lean against the railing,
and the seagulls join you. You’ve made them
tiny red scarves that they all wear. All of you

stare, still as glass, as if any movement might
blur your vision. Together, you watch the sea,
straining to see yourself coming back, straining
to catch a glimpse of the prow of a boat

cutting through the silver morning water.
A poem about finding oneself.  Previously published  2  Rivers Review 2015
David Hutton Oct 2017
A portrait of you I found somewhere,
Your eyes had an abstracted glare.
Why do I keep this?
Maybe to reminisce.
A time I caved into your snare.
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