William S. Burroughs 19 November 2020

 

                           (William Burroughs 1983)

Fearful of nightmares,

Hallucinating

Little men

Playing house,

     -Terror of nightmares,

      -Melancholic tones

     -Textured by

     -Fear, guilt, rage;

'Ghostly grey figures, 

Apparition of 

Green reindeer

In the woods,' 

     -Nude figures cut out,

     -Genitals cut off,

     -Scissors gripped

     -By stained hand;

Red phosphorus mixed

With potassium

Chlorate, black

Powder bombs,

     -Sudden outbursts sprayed

     -Explosive temper,

     -Violent

     -Forces stirred;

Pistol in shoulder

Holster, assembled,

Pin readied

Tommy Gun,

     -Gun metal rifles

     -Pulled off walls, pointed,

     -Brown bovines

     -Switch their tails;

'Let me show it to

You... real beauty...I

Love the feel

In my hand,'

     -Chain smoked cigarettes

     -Sucked down, stomped out, in

     -Back-room bars

     -Swilling beers;

'You Can't Win' spelled it

Out: if found unlike 

Others, best

Keep apart,

     -Underdog's quick wit

     -Joking undermined

     -Threatening

     -When cornered;

Boy, 'gibbon,' measured,

Weighed, Harvard lectured,

Eccentrics

Sacrosanct,

     -Draftsman aped student,

     -Won Cooper Union

     -Semester

     -Scholarship;

Thinking dissected,

Finger severed, son

Committed

To parents,

     -Entry-level job

     -Mindless, next job, wrist 

     -Transaction

     -Leveraged;

Flunked enlistment, ducked

Draft, copywriter,

Bug sprayer,

Writ server,

     -Piece de resistance

     -Boy wonder flunkey,

     -A saddle

     -Amigo;

Jack, junk, Huncke, Allen,

Joan, Neal, orgone box,

Billy, Kells,

In snapshots,

     -Arthur, David, A.,

     -Henry, Ellsworth, B.,

     -Barnett, Hans,

     -The cutout;

New York, Texas, New 

Orleans, Mexico, 

Tangier, 'Lunch,'

Tri fold-ins,

     -Europe, Africa,

     -Europe, Florida,

     -Five Village

     -Subway stops;

Primordially

Disembodied graft

Absorbed male,

Oozed female,

     -Cordially sublime

     -Beauty encompassed

     -Masculine

     -Fruition;

Possessed by evil

Spirit, the sentence:

Recording

Instrument,

     -Recessed conflicting

     -Emotions in paint

     -Strokes, drunk blind

     -Hailed their cabs;

Interzone routines

Unpredictable,

Un-sequenced

Travelogues,

     -Workspace frequented

     -By local poets

     -And artists,

     -Keen sitters;

Cartographer's script,

Detritus, mixed for

Indexing,

Editing,

     -Photographer's kit,

     -Art supplies, art books,

     -Painted, stacked

     -Canvasses;

(Stock characters), Gimp,

Vigilante, Rube,

Shake Man, Kid,

Doctor, Nurse,

     -Big city slicker 

     -Denizens, Village

     -Wannabes,

     -His subjects;

Moved to the Bunker,

Once YMCA 

Boys' locker, 

Mezzanine,

     -Drinkers' noise sector,

     -Basement studio, 

     -Shadow of

     -Ninth Circle;

Midwest twang read out

Practiced underground

Passages

To the rapt,

     -Lidless edginess

     -Trapped on surfaces

     -Bled into

     -Dramatic;

Narrative driven

By daily typing 

In drink, drugs,

Induced trance,

     -Self-medicated

     -Alcohol, depressed,

     -Curated

     -Ambitions;

Rodent bitten draft

Manuscript, pasted

Over bits

And pieces,

     -Candid pencil takes

     -Instinctively pierced

     -Unwitting

     -Disclosures;

Voices posturing,

Visions mirrored back,

Dimensions

Shattering,

     -Choices pestering,

     -Decisions battered,

     -Buttressed eye

     -Zeroed in;

Introspective, self 

Analyzed, odd man

Outsider

Appraised all,

     -Extrospective half

     -Canonised surplice

     -Conditioned

     -Doubt sayers;

Wages, allowance,

Bail, drug sales, crop sales,

Advances,

Royalties,

     -Scholarship, wages,

     -Companionship, trips,

     -Grantee, sales,

     -Commissions;

Mote, Laura, Billy;

Giorno, Ginsberg, 

James; Ian,

Mort, felines,

     -Alice, Arthur, Tim;

     -John, Julia Mayo;

     -Holly, Charles;

     -And Sidney;

'Cities of the Red

Night,' fiction refuge,

Cragged nova

Complexion,

     -Grit of the red eyed

     -Oracle's formal,

     -Unrehearsed,

     -Delivery.

19 November 2020

 

     

     

     

     

   

     

     

  

    

    

     

      

Steve Hamilton 2 September 2020

               (Steve Hamilton 198?)

'Today the toaster
Refused to toast the
Bread, reason
Unexplained,'
     -Last week, laundromat
     -Washer wouldn't spin,
     -Plugged in, lights,
     -Started, stopped;
'There's no reasoning
With these machines, so
There was a
Group: Luddites,'
     -Attendant looked, said
     -Something to herself,
     -Put up "Out
     -Of Order;"
'I'm seldom happy,
They said. Who could be
Happy at
Times like these?'
     -Given a token,
     -Laundry floated in
     -Detergent,
     -Dirt, water;
'The marvelous might
Be hiding under
The carpet.
Rip it up.'
     -If the sign is gone,
     -It's possible that
     -The washer
     -Has been fixed;
'I ripped the carpet
Up and I found dirt.
A pity.
Quel dommage.'
     -Also possible
     -That someone took off
     -The "Out of
     -Order" sign;
Left dirt behind, 'lost
Again when camel
Collapsed in
A desert,'
     -Commission relapsed
     -With Alex Katz's
     -'Nabil's Loft'
     -Pandering;
'Intrepid journey
To find Calypso
Singer, or
Water glass,'
     -An ipso facto
     -Gurney commandeered
     -To convey
     -Eyeglass glint;
'The alchemy of
Despair is seldom
A failure.'
Even now.
     -Ingredients of
     -Prell shampoo redeemed
     -Balcony
     -Of brown hair;
'It began raining
In the desert and
I almost
Choked on mud,'
     -Van Goghed window shade
     -Torments nocturnal
     -Poet in
     -Oil seed black;

'The Party is in

A troublesome state,

Run out of

Alcohol,'

     -'Comrades: we must take

     -Up a collection,'

     -Redeem all

     -The empties;

'Ten thousand birds fly

Out of my head. It

Must now be

In summer,'

     -Five hundred pigs roll

     -Out of their beds, it 

     -Must be a

     -Mineshaft night;

'Three pomegranates

On a silver plate.

It must now

Be in Rome,'

     -Two dharma bums, Six

     -Gallery reading,

     -Must be San

     -Francisco;

'I tried to achieve

Total inertia.

My efforts

Applauded,'

     -I applied solvents

     -To relieve tincture

     -Of viscous

     -Adherence;

'Past tense sense: absence

Of chance enlivened

The dance of

Harmony,'

     -Prevalence of chance

     -Invigorated

     -Advance toward

     -Resemblance;

'Object acquired 

More subject. Verbs lost

Their nerve. Rhyme's 

Memory,'

     -Posers exposed with

     -Tones, sitters composed

     -Of dabs, hand

     -Flicks eyeballed;     

'As stars exploded

Over Mars, we ran

Under a

Nearby tree,'

     -'To explore nature's

     -Fortifications,'

     -Which stored faint

     -Resistance;

'Wild beasts waltzed to tune

Of a fake earthquake

Which faded

To musings,'

     -Vulcan climax mooned

     -Metropolitan    

     -Jaded on

     -A blind date;

'But your smile's crystal

Flaccidity has

Deferred plans

For retreat,'

     -While placidity

     -Mitred violent

     -Edges from

     -Glossy lips;

'Cells were on the march,

My celibacy

Abandoned,'

Celebrate!

     -Balls held to the flame,

     -Bellicosity

     -Sequestered

     -Under bed;

'Who among you has

Ever thought to take

Some control 

Of this lust?'

     -Conjugate, discussed

     -Within grammar, a

     -'Technical'

     -Adjective.

     

 2 September 2020    

     

     

      

     

      

   
   

Henry Howard 23 July 2020

     [Study of Holbein's] (Henry Howard,                  Earl of Surrey no date)


(My) '...achievement small
In scale and flawed...' I'm
'...merely a
Man who served,'
     -I contrived to show
     -Court bard broadside, through
     -Pains, travails,
     -Attaining;
A 'literary
Personality'
Whose pen's work
Was 'distinct,'
     -Is still in print, as
     -Mercenary ken
     -Moves pieces
     -By default;
Faint praise when charged as
Borrower of text
In Latin
Translation,
     -'Neither borrower
     -Nor lender be,' traced
     -Lines patterned
     -Depiction;
'Many things tasting
Of a noble mind,'
Sir P. S.
Tongued the block,
     -Too 'tender aged,' lodged
     -Predilection when
     -Ranked, Chaucer,
     -Spenser, you;
Insurrectionist's
Vocabulary,
'Words, words, words,'
Formation,
     -Illustrator's stirred
     -Incubus foments
     -Primary
     -Canvasses;
'Victorious his
Lance, matchless his pen,'
Geraldine
Bird laments,
     -'Perchance to dream' that
     -Prick-tease heralded
     -Scholarly
     -Renewal;
'Windsor, wherein seems
Lust and joy did tread,
Pleasant dreams,
Quiet bed,'
     -Tendrils extracted
     -Of boy's foolery,
     -Bachelor's
     -Bowery;
'We have fought and chased
In active games, rein
Nimble braced,
We did strain,'
     -I have lain, encased
     -In cornstalks, food brought,
     -Left in peace
     -My gamble;
'No secrets forborn,
Or promise unkept,
Friendship sworn
Where trust leapt,'
     -Lawrence's pencil,
     -Adept in kinship's
     -Fist, garnered
     -Likenesses;
'Blood forsakes my guise,
Where is my fere, whom
Woes freed, lies,
Plaints entomb,'
     -Boxer's torso, knee,
     -Pubic plaits festooned
     -Conformist
     -Forbearance;
'I see that things pitched
Not as outward poke,
Wrapped in stitched,
Crafty cloak,'
     -Courtier Lawrence
     -Engaged attentions
     -To flesh out
     -Dramatic;
'Garments to clothe your
Naked man suffice
To lecture
Clad in vice,'
     -Moth furred armature
     -Swept from sedulous
     -Heads fixed by
     -Taskmaster;
'By princely acts I
Strove to make endure,
Houses high
Set my cure,'
     -Royalty's mister
     -Courted credentials
     -To stave off
     -Creditors;
'An heir unaligned
Shall reap fruits I sow,
Goods resigned,
Title crow,'
     -Each peer survived suits
     -Lifetime succession,
     -Lucrative
     -Patronage;
'My soul offended
With griefs of follies,
Bells mended,
Scourged mollies,'
     -Myself confounded
     -By correspondence,
     -Lads spread out
     -Spelling paint;
'Burdened dissolute
At the Lord's behest,
'Til refute
Viper's nest,'
     -Chastened, compulsive
     -Paper procurer,
     -Cotton limned
     -Where flesh foiled;
'When sudden storms heave
Falsehoods to assail,
Crosswinds reave,
Safe ports fail,'
     -Where leaden forearms
     -Paused, bettors wagered
     -Appointments
     -Steep decline;
'These newly risen
Men would by their will
Unchristen
Chosen krill,'
     -European tour
     -Unfastened vaults of
     -Luminous
     -Collections;
'Scarce hath seed formed man
When death leads to earth,
Branch's span
Lopped from birth,'
     -Five decades ceded
     -Level planche to prop
     -An easel,
     -Fresh soled shoes;
'My glass presents me
A determined breast,
Thrawldom free
Planted rest,'
     -My craft predestined
     -A life's dependence
     -Composing
     -Eminence.

23 July 2020
   
   

Morris Golde 26 May 2020

                   (Morris Golde 1981)

Tim's note: 'A pretty
And pretty drunk blond
Boy (sporting)
A blazer,'
     -Ashbery party
     -Pretentious forsworn-
     -Before I
     -Quit drinking;
Tim, quoting Morris:
'An incredible
Beauty on
All levels,'
     -Circling the social,
     -Artistic fish bowl,
     -Feeding off
     -The substrate;
Berkson on Village:
'Intense assertions,
Pro and con,
Gushes, slaps,'
     -Nonpartisan ponce
     -Allegedly quipped
     -Scorecard on
     -Proceedings;
Impassioned broadside
Ricocheted dance floor,
Sandwiches
Suspended,
     -Boston Virgil bear
     -Hugged Brooklyn Aaron
     -Shouting (S)te(i)n
     -Commandments;
Erick claimed a clear
Space, cantilevered
Somatic
Extension,
     -Frank stubbed cigarette
     -And cheered, 'I just thought
     -Something ought
     -To happen;'
Alvin sight read from
Lucia's sheets, nodding
To John at
Intervals,
     -Lenny scrutinised
     -Physique's elastic
     -Skin tones for
     -Indentions;
Top down Jane blocked off
Goings on, peering
At wall stains
Vanishing,
     -Tim brandished pencil,
     -Michael Press program's
     -Damp water
     -Mark John's way;
Arranged Jane resolved
The mounting tension,
'I have the
Coffee set,'
     -Marc mimicked airborne
     -Plane on Morris's,
     -Lenny's heads,
     -'Bombs away!'
'There is a balance
To be maintained,' wigged
Out Edward,
As Agnes,
     -Edwin nagged her, as
     -Him, 'That's the Mrs.
     -W's
     -Last sandwich,'
'Parlance ham-fisted,'
Maurice observed of
Paper plate
Residue,
     -Tony butted in,
     -'No matter how you
     -Slice it, so...
      -Out to lunch;'
'If I could wrap my
Hands around,' Michael
De called it:
'Trois-si-dos,'
     -Gene reconfigured,
     -'Stations sans de Croix'
     -'Upside down!'
     -Michael howled;
'Make a cushion in
Your head for the street,'
Mused Scott, with
Downturned bowl,
     -Maggie frowned, beat source
     -Clammed, Richard, Clinton
     -Proposed an
     -Audition;
Arnold nosed garbage,
Boosted the meat source
For his 'Red
Eye of Love,'
     -Kenward whispered that
     -He corresponded
     -As heiress
     -With grocers;
Maxine misheard that 
Vincent was 'gorging,'
John's prive
Coup de corps,
     -In Vermont, Ron blew
     -His blaze cinder boards
     -To great balls
     -Of fire;
Kenneth revait Red
Robin formation,
Yeats' gyre
Widening,
     -Barbara found Morris
     -On his knees, wrapping
     -Up slippers
     -For Wystan. 


26 May 2020   
   






   
   

Roger Trefousse 19 April 2020

                 (Roger Trefousse 1982)

                         (Ben Weber)



Peripatetic
Vocal rebuttals
Disrupted
At midstream,
     -Pretzeled, pathetic,
     -Defensive lineman
     -Doggedly
     -Tightened hole;
Nocturnal debuts
Colloquial strides
Keyed over
Telephone,
     -Diurnal caboose
     -Parochial prey,
     -Narrow guage
     -Discipline;
Autodidactic,
Bare boned copyist,
Dismantled
Components,
     -Tempered scholar, piqued
     -Reproductionist,
     -Glissandoed
     -Ostacles;
Camp anchorite dished
Delectations of
Consummate
Home cooking,
     -Damp Mennonite corked
     -Ladies Parties fizzed
     -Charades for
     -Candidness;
Purveyors foraged,
Exotic spices,
Butcher cuts,
Choicest fruits,
     -Calf love disparaged,
     -Cantaloupes squeezed, plums,
     -Stewed in juice,
     -Swallowed, spit;
One day spent shopping,
Preparing, one day
Spent cooking,
For hour,
     -Hours observing,
     -Sketching, weeks spent brushed
     -Back, finding,
     -For a glance;
Voluptuous soup,
Frisson greens, lardons,
Filet de
Boeuf en croute,
     -Morris Golde grouped,
     -Dickerson, Cooper
     -Cordoned, Rounds
     -Rib cage crushed;
Mindless bagatelle,
Flourished caprice, red
Cabbage sweet,
Sour notes,
     -Chalked breakfast specials,
     -Mascara streaked kid,
     -Belched powdered
     -Sugar knot;
Sublime aroma,
Pinched cumin, curry,
Infused cream,
Chicken broth,
     -Subsumed diner scents,
     -Toast, coffee, bacon
     -Grease rendered
     -Griddle eggs;
Maror undertones,
Bitter chicory,
Wilted, red
Vinegar,
     -Savoured indulgence,
     -Melted butter spread,
     -Cinnamon
     -Sticky bun;
Mantecatura
Modulated drone,
Crackle, hiss,
Fingering,
     -Register ping, popped
     -Up click, refill glug,
     -Cast iron
     -Sizzle, scrape;
Scaled symposium,
Spooned here, forkful there,
Cut apart
Puffery,
     -Rush hour cram course
     -Scooped off styrofoam,
     -Or grabbed from
     -Paper bag;
Bombay terrace, Swiss
Bower, London flat,
In New York
Apartment,
     -Polish tea shop, French
     -Bistro, West Village
     -Regulars'
     -Greasy spoon;
Lukewarm goulash spilled
By arthritic hand,
Stoic dogs
Under foot,
     -Prosaic settings,
     -Spelled out, left blank, took
     -In crayoned
     -Expressions;
Fantasia rose,
Wrapping him, naked
On bench, with
Hand marked sheets,
     -Mark, squarely planted,
     -Back strapped, weighed down with
     -Random books
     -Clenched to knee.

20 April 2020

Ross Bleckner 2 March 2020

                      (Ross Bleckner ~1982)

Works of art: signs which
Conveyed ideas,
Symbols for
Actual,
     -Representative,
     -Pigmented shapes, ground's
     -Seminal
     -Cutout lines;
Art is an act of
Consciousness, r,
Expression,
     -The undeciphered
     -Dream jottings read on
     -Therapist's
     -Pristine wall;
An examined life
Contended with skin,
Arena
Its surface,
     -Closely scrutinised
     -Pore arrangement gave
     -Self-conscious
     -Latitude;
Custody of eyes
Prefaced encounter,
Loss recalled
In total,
     -Treachery of dye
     -Permutations in
     -Visible
     -Conveyance;
The frustration of
Loss reconstruction,
Scintilla
Of weather,
     -'Sorrows of Werther'
     -Monochromatic,
     -Alzheimer's
     -Production;
Male kiss talk displaced
Desire to be
Engaged in
Kiss action,
     -Lust mistaken for
     -Idiomatic,
     -Intimate
     -Dialogue;
Console stopped Bach fugue,
Reverberated
Wind carried
Transcription,
     -Bifurcated sock,
     -Buried find, enshrined
     -Painterly
     -Happenstance;
Felt cornered: process
Oriented search
Rolled out, on,
Sanded off,
     -Lauded proficient,
     -Results bore progress,
     -Attested
     -To routine;
Geometrics towed,
White on black on white,
Unfolded
Poutine boats,
     -Neophyte draftsman's
     -Schematic views, which
     -Helmsman had
     -Abandoned;
Bulb scorched exposures,
Light staged, fight or flight,
Talisman
Performance,
     -Reformer's Rorschach
     -Suggestions, oil and
     -Acrylic
     -Crease stand-ins;
Properties leased by
Forlorn dyslexics
In outbacks
Idyllic,
     -Archaic dispatch
     -Marginalised the
     -Warrior
     -Perspective;
Constructions deployed
Spun around axis,
Surmounting
Barriers,
     -Factus detected
     -Through demarcations
     -Configured
     -Influence;
Ramifications
Of pond photographed
On rental
Property,
     -Corner of bedroom
     -Photographed, street light
     -Slanted through
     -Venetians;
Of Joel Shapiro's
House shaped sculptures, stuck-
Inveigled-
Pictographs,
     -Convulsive laughter
     -When intercepted
     -Ducks dropped at
     -Gallery;
Of Housatonic,
Hinterland tuck shop
Consular's
Diary,
     -Punxsutawney Phil's
     -Hallucinated,
     -Pinter prompted
     -Betrayal;
Recirculated
Furniture, ladder,
Dunked outside,
Preemptive,
     -Reconstituted
     -Portraiture, profiles
     -Turned around
     -Redemptive;
Deconstructed bed,
Rectilinear
Successions
Examined,
     -Redirected head
     -Studies exploiting
     -Transfacial
     -Curvature;
Further off processed,
Edge containment sparred
With, knock out
Dynamic,
     -Synthetic booted
     -From apprehended
     -Dodge, brushes
     -Gathered up;
Curves circulated
Confrontation with
Imminent
Erasure,
     -Perambulation's
     -Indelible marks
     -Departure
     -Catalyst;
Head manifested,
By postured suspense,
Surrogate
Stepped away,
     -Eye manufactured,
     -By attention trained
     -From presence,
     -Closing in;
Landscape of the mind,
Etched evocation
Of someone
Forgotten,
     -Grandstand of the posed
     -Memorialised
     -Impingement
     -Cottoned to;
Abstraction flattened
Representation,
Pressured from
Underneath,
     -Introspection reached
     -Laded rendition,
     -Welling up
     -Opened out;
After, pivotal
Stretched marks struck around,
Boxed out of
Ring corners,
     -Resilience out foxed,
     -Unconscious transfixed
     -In earthen
     -Toned pigments;
Black, white, persistent,
Streamed intersections
Brought outward
From inscribed,
     -The weight of the world's
     -Transit of Venus,
     -Visceral
     -Discus hurled;
Rumorous brightening
Stippled backwoods where
Dejected
Sought solace,
     -Tumors lengthened, spread,
     -Radiation zapped,
     -Acquiesced
     -Fetal cline;
Compartmented chinks
Exchanged organic,
Intrusive
Influence,
     -Panel confluence
     -Clunky jiggering
     -Of fatal
     -Concessions;
Imposition of
Staggered weights led to
Animate
Discussion,
     -Posterior glutes
     -Unclenched an obscured,
     -Humanist
     -Rebuttal;
Obsession consumed,
Veiled off, forgotten,
Figmental
Swallow hole,
     -Prevailed over gag
     -Reflex, traumatic
     -Parlayed for
     -Psychic chute;
Mineshaft passage flagged,
Snorting dilated
Squatting legged
Defecant,
     -Boots licked leprechauns
     -Afforded playground
     -On midweek
     -Leather nights;
Praxis splintered on
Canvassed platform, far
Flung districts
Coalesced,
     -Vantage point washed through
     -Perpendiculars
     -Of metal
     -Window gate;
Porous film dissolved,
Evaporating
Immersive
Barriers,
     -Black and white striped shirt,
     -Open collar points,
     -Delivered
     -With wrinkles;

Sloped stolidity

Enveloped weather,
Conducive
To dolour,
     -Rolled maroon embraced
     -For subdued brightness
     -Precipice
     -Depended;
Grievance in absence
Quelled avoidance of
Colorblind
Concessions,
     -Chiaroscuro
     -Cemented bland, rolled
     -Oat porridge
     -To veneer;
Tenor's diffusive
Quandary conjectured
Avian
Distinction,
     -Flat, conspicuous
     -Brushwork surmounted
     -By fleshtone
     -Comportment;
Chandeliers supplied
Illumination
To fleshed out
Abjection,
     -Incandescent bulbs
     -Strung out disclosure
     -Of benign
     -Enigma.

2 March 2020
 






 

   
   
   
   




   
   
   
   

 

Craig S. 9 November 2019

                          (Craig S. 1982)

                
                         (Unknown 1983)

Posed portfolio
Shot, head tilted right
Toward knuckles,
Eyes stared out,
     -Blue crew neck- model's
     -Own- forelock twisted,
     -Aide-memoire
     -Tacked to wall;
Photographer, crouched
Behind tripod's lens,
Luminaire
Bracketing,
     -Chin curved out free hand,
     -Hair, sweater, blocked in
     -Black and blue,
     -Eyes studied;
Foreground flash flooded,
Background gaze shouldered,
Pervasive
Crowding out,
     -Eyes, nose, mouth congealed
     -Self-revelation's
     -Simmering
     -Embryo;
Resolute brio
Steadied emulsion's
Revenant
Properties,
     -Caran d'Ache marshes,
     -Jetties, coastline formed
     -Contours in
     -Picture plane;
Perceptions pinned to
Darkroom clothesline a
Voyeur tinged
Placebo,
     -Fingers' grasp allowed
     -Shift, silver record,
     -To powder
     -Concordance;
Posed portfolio
Shot, head straightened, left
Hand grazed chin,
Eyes stared out,
     -Blue crew neck- model's
     -Own- modulated
     -Ground, forelock,
     -Twisted, brown;
Photographer stood
Back, tripod, easel
Framed close-up
Elements,
     -Broad development:
     -Head; chin; neck; collar;
     -Hand; blocked out
     -Feasible;
Flash assaulted eyes,
Stacked canvasses brushed
Back of head,
Wires looped,
     -Desultory blues
     -Coated, incisive
     -Browns, trained through
     -Reds, marooned;
Periorbitals
Funneled ruminant
Basin strained
Of surname,
     -Faint luminesence
     -Dabbed face, birthmark daubed
     -Eye, wiped clean
     -Along throat
Testimony hedged
Insular resolve,
Wariness
Transparent,
     -Binary eyes hived
     -Representation
     -Empathic,
     -Imprisoned;
Third year, fourth portrait,
Watched dissolve before
Propped canvas,
Palette, brush,
     -Revolving lathe whirred,
     -Conspicuous slab
     -Weathered by
     -Oils applied;
Blathered in background,
Butt kept the seat warm,
Pigments danced
Poi ballet,
     -Partitioned plie,
     -Back straightened, elbow
     -Bent, wrist turns
     -Resilient;
Feather calamus
Suspended barbule
Ferrules, soaked
Droplets spread,
     -Thalamus marbles
     -Registered streaks, rolled
     -Rarified
     -Outpourings;
Likeness imperilled
Life's assuredness,
Prowled canvas
For mirrored,
     -Established shadow,
     -Light; artificial
     -Impastoed,
     -Natural;
Disremembered shot,
Musings melded shock
At sublime
Surveillance,
     -Curatorial
     -Against contrivance,
     -Cause, effect,
     -Recorded.

9 November 2019


(This 'duet' is based on a drawing (1982), and a painting (1984), of the top sitter, and two paintings (both 1983) of the bottom sitter.)