Artist's Delight

But he draws back my clothes, covers me
in a palette of skirts and there is a blouse here;
I am less touched. Finally, goodness.

He paints a field around me. My legs curl
under; I am happy here. Great
baskets at my sides fill with: this

is a passionflower; this is a black-eyed
susan; this is a tired iris; this is a bloom of
cotton bright as that sun and that

moon. Happy here?
My lips feather in grotesque smile.
This land. This abyss.

When he is unahppy with
so many things, he stabs the forests
behind me and these bolls in front.

They do not turn away; they turn brighter.

CM Burroughs

"Artist's Delight" by CM Burroughs, Copyright (C) 2005. Published in
Tuesday: An Art Project, 2008. Used by permission of the poet.