An Artist's Dwelling, 1985
Eternal bachelor
Orange afro
Lennon glasses
French last name
Easels litter his living room
Red, orange, blue
Splashes of tropical green
Photos propped on canvases
Acrylic replicas
Of boats, fishing poles
Bobbing in the sea
In plants,
Tiny porcelain mice,
Whales
Heavy coffee table
Cigarette burns
Discarded 'Playboys'
Cribbage board
Fifteen two, fifteen four, and a pair is six
In the kitchen,
In the kitchen,
Pots and pans hang from a rack
Spices stacked
Tomato plants growing out back
In the basement
Skunky and warm
More plants
Tall, crystal, green
Money-makers
On the walls,
Paintings
Clowns with puffy rainbow sleeves
Naked women, parted hair
Hawaii
The bathroom, kingly
Rich red carpet
Stairs leading up to the tub
Old-fashioned white telephone
Perched, patient
Ready to ring
Bedroom
Half-shuttered windows
Thick air, unmade bed
Nude females sketched in lead
Posing in silver frames
A wild jungle outside
Tangled bushes and vines
Screening in
A private porch
Rocking wooden swing
Gray cat
A child's dream
This artist's house
Plants concealing a mouse,
A marble
She gazes up at the colorful clown
Hair red, like its creator
Ruffled sleeves
Striped blue and green
"Self Portrait"
It's entitled
Coffee table, centerfold
Miss July
Parted thighs
Artist's god-daughter
Looks to her blood-father
Who's stoned, cross-legged in jeans
Five years old
She doesn't miss a thing...
"Daddy, she forgot to put on her underpants!!!"
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