Stuart 4 September 2018

            

                           (Stuart 1983)


James ascribed sitting
For Sargent wouldn't
Convey a
Basement seat,
     -First brush, prep school clean
     -Largesse, smelling of
     -Freshly mowed
     -Soccer fields;
More storage room, paint
Cans, canvases, an
Easel, cups,
Piled papers,
     -Blue swept out, Cape Cod
     -Barometric high,
     -Salt water
     -Wake surfer;
Two draws, two exhales,
Made distinctions clear
In your head,
In your mouth,
     -Subliminal, if
     -Fingers led skin to
     -Skin, nothing
     -From your mouth;
'Hold,' always, 'Hold,' or
'Give it up,' stretched back,
Prepared for
Coverage,
     -Nair™ on subterfuge
     -Accreted blush tones
     -On jock's strapped
     -Testament;
Sentiments proudly
Commandeered in time,
Disbelief
Bunkered sides,
     -Drank in starched, ironed
     -Cotton left to ride
     -Daredevil
     -Bike's freefall;
Shirt's a shirt, hiked, tucked,
Have to wear something
More formal
Than t-shirt,
     -'Streetcar,' or 'Rebel,'
     -Confrontational,
     -Brando, or
     -James Dean, T's;
Okay for gym class
As a kid when school
Issued, or
Weekend sports,
     -Compositional
     -Weakness courted if
     -Yellows, blues
     -Unaffirmed;
Dermatologist,
Doctor, dentist, home,
Cross-country,
Tomorrow,
     -Dark brown, gold, corn floss,
     -Carded tendrils, brushed
     -Furrowless,
     -Pale forehead;
Told I should read more,
Look at art, chalk up
Failures to
Rushing things
     -Pushing swings into
     -Blue contrivance, sky's
     -The limit
     -When boxed in;
Pugilist prowess
Theoretical,
Contact plays
On team sports,
     -Fixed exhortation
     -Categorical:
     -Wordless, speaks
     -For someone.

4 September 2018