Oleg Kerensky 6 December 2016

                    (Oleg Kerensky 1982) 

Critic takes back seat,
Characters played out,
It works, it
Doesn't: why?
     -Viewer stands in front
     -Of exhibition,
     -The transfer
     -Like, or lost;
Playwright delivers
Plot, acts, characters,
Comedy,
Tragedy,
     -Artist arranges
     -Spacial dimensions,
     -Assembles
     -Supplies;
Characters given
Dialogue, actions,
Stage, sets, lights,
Actors cast,
     -Portrait defined by
     -Medium, surface,
     -Background, pose,
     -Colors, tones;
Actor's fitting with
Character, feeling
Out tongue, words,
Filling shoes,
     -Artist addressing
     -Sitter's skeleton,
     -Muscles strung,
     -Skin encased;
Director engaged
To disentangle
Puppets pulled
Chorus line,
     -Artist blinks, lights up,
     -Steps back sipping cup
     -Of coffee,
     -Considers;
'Anna Pavlova'
With Oleg's scribbled
Inscription
'To Paul, Esq.,'
     -Penned to laser off
     -Myth steeped cataracts
     -Clouding held
     -Perceptions;
Purchased by London
Book dealer, four pounds
Penciled on
Endpaper,
     -Russian parentage,
     -Classical training,
     -Disciplined,
     -Convent life;
First edition, near
Fine condition, marked
Up, thirty
In dollars,
     -Ethereal, poised,
     -Poetic, fragile,
     -Romantic,
     -Hypnotic;
Found, passed around, owned,
Given away, state,
'All the world
Is a stage,'
     -Justice done to the
     -Side of the stage door,
     -When houselights
     -Have gone down;
Pestered to translate
Death, credentials, steps...
Sidewalk danced
To Tea Room,
     -Solidity of
     -View proferred, hairline
     -Cracks bely
     -Vessel tasked;
Filial bloodlines:
Playbills; notes; published
Texts; -gossip-
Policemen,
     -Soliloquy pursed,
     -Part rehearsed in the
     -Rooms women
     -Come and go;
Bridge, lacking partners,
Duplicate 'Gin Game,'
Dual roles
Round table,
     -'This too, too solid
     -Flesh would melt,' making
     -Algonquin
     -Dew Drop Inn;
Bridge, traversing from
Spoken storylines
To message
In refrain,
     -Squawking peacock, tips
     -Aflame, his face flushed,
     -Pensive when
     -The light flashed;
Bridge, pressed to label
They buck on stiff necks,
Moon cheeks, kick
Off, elbow,
     -Pyre discovered,
     -Fanned, fierce, nocturnal
     -Emissions
     -Wildfire;
Bridge, build subscriber
Seats, they'll thrust onto
Working class
Bars and streets,
     -View from the bridge, pinched,
     -Measured in lines, leaf
     -Playful when
     -Unfolded.

6 December 2016