Page 7 - Contrast2006

David Greisman

PORTRAITS

portrait of a young anorexic

i trace lines in circles that have never been drawn
until the alarm sounds and i am leaving the room and
coalescing with the stream until the next room comes,
and there i lie my head down,
tracing a path of colour that flows into shapes
on the back of my eyelids, a black-eyed susan
becoming an illuminatus until the fluorescent beams scream,
and i'm picked up and taken away again.

portrait of a young pervert

she draws me forward, nudging the door, caressing the curtains
as her fingernails trace a heart into my chest, and we bicker
over what inevitably causes us to lie still,
and eventually we lay our bodies down,
drawing the covers and flowing with each other,
only afterward reaffirming names, time
becoming useless until the night fights
the edge of dawn, yet the moon stays in place.

portrait of a young addict

i write this as a rose pollinating the windowsill,
and hear oceans stopping in desolation,
steam boils over the highrises and the horizon
wanders into a coloring book, fingerpainting
wilderness, opening doors and tickling me
while i shake, twitching just as i would when
my muse would sing, her voice a cushion, pushing
pictures and words that i never knew -

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