(Unknown ~1981-3)
Forgotten face chose
Favourite plaid shirt,
Fresh from the
Wash and fold,
-Usual features,
-Centered view, Peter,
-Duncan, Jim,
-Staring off;
Showered just before,
Dabbed cologne, brushed teeth,
Changed from jeans
To khakis,
-Took a stab at head,
-Neck lines, retouching
-Pristine face
-Deflowered;
Unfolded village
Track lines, subway stops,
Sheridan
Square, West 4th,
-Reoriented
-Collar, uprooted
-Placket, stripes
-Decoupled;
Debated sneakers,
Shoes, perfect weather
To walk through
The Village,
-Walked around paper
-Excising limbs, trunk:
-Circumvent
-Pedestal;
A Gotham Book Mart
Reading happenstance,
Backed against
An artist,
-Cradled recumbent
-'Til smart look preppy,
-Loosened up,
-Propped on chair;
Scooched down to retrieve
Dropped book, unprepared
When standing
Unbalanced,
-Back bolstered hinted
-Resemblance, tore off
-A scribbled
-Phone number;
Dissembled turn on
At invitation
To pose in
Studio,
-Stammered message on
-Machine replayed an
-Out-of-breath
-Neophyte;
Triple checked details
Left on voicemail, night,
Address, (his,
'Look forward...'),
-Arts scenes afforded
-Fresh models, friends' friends,
-Bar tricks, the
-More mature;
Legendary cool
Cavorted in stride
Jazzed Village
Regulars,
-Hedged consequences
-With brewed regulars,
-Company
-Of yes-men;
Backpacker's dopp kit
Contingencies weighed,
Ballast from
Indulgence,
-Crayoned dispersal
-Made catalyst for
-Decisions
-On the fly;
Industrial fan
Deep fried, screen door sweets,
Wedged, oak door
Barbecue,
-Turpentine soaked boar,
-Oiled rags deprived air,
-Acrylic
-Reckonings;
Convoluted pitch,
Caribbean skank
Music, slam
Of cab door,
-Drunk serenaded
-Boys, dealer cajoled,
-'Smoke, X, K...'
-Whoosh in pipes;
Cheeks flushed, sweat rolled from
Armpits, soaked waistband,
Fingers, left
Sticky, wiped,
-Prickly heat nettled,
-Confinement staved off
-Gallerist
-Effacement;
Philtrum salt licked, skies
Menaced, replete with
Metallic
Downpourings,
-Acidic, caffeine
-Fix, penance for sweet,
-Distilled malt
-On the rocks;
On the block, tissues
Mopped pedantic gaze
Ivy League
Placarded,
-Facile discarded,
-Facial studied hard
-With velvet
-Wherewithal;
Descended to sub
Chamber, surveyed for
Jamesian
Fracture lines,
-Features, abstracted
-Marks, spatially placed:
-Eyes; nose; mouth;
-Sees; breathes; talks;
Worked casually
From across the room,
Looked up and
Registered,
-Accredited hand,
-Struck, carried the line,
-Or borrowed
-Suggested;
Felt ingested whole,
Concerned about the
End product,
Aftertaste,
-Comprehended, through
-Artist's altered state,
-What sought could
-Be derived;
Buried secrets which
Worry inflicted
As lines drawn
Around eyes,
-Furrowed inroads, and
-Sandpapered surface
-Figured in
-Assertions;
Spared lacerations,
When digging beneath
Progressed toward
A portrait,
-Scratched saturations
-Sent fireworks of
-Blues and greens
-Into ground.
27 May 2019
