A tart remark


A tart remark
extinguished her, there was
this sunlit absence,
 
his fingers scuffled
over the drawing board,
its white background
 
sent a reflection of brilliance
against her like a shield,
to where she stood
 
still not holding the candle
to him, to his wits,
his superior eloquence,
 
as she was shrinking
in silence, a wilted violet
losing its scent. 
 
That’s when he spoke again,
very slowly and in a low tone,
nearly inaudibly,
 
while his pen made a scraping noise
emulating the shape of her eyes
and the gentle curve of her breast.
 
His words fell, like ink blobs,
onto her face and gradually dissolved,
blotting out its contours…

 

© Yutka 2023
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critique and comments welcome.
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Guaj

This painted a very specific picture to me of a worldly wise older artist subtly bullying his model into submission. Probably nothing like you meant when you wrote this.

It also made me wonder how my life would have gone if I’d have followed my art teacher’s advice and gone to art school rather than study chemistry.

I smile at the thought of a horrifically naíve seventeen-year ‘child’ at his first life drawing lesson. 🙂

Dodgem

I see her – the model, as naked in a cold studio, while he, the artist is closed off behind his easel. Her vulnerability being captured by his pen, onto his drawing; he takes her almost in a sexual sense. This is how it speaks to me, and such a powerful image.

Thanks again Yutka

Dougie

Dodgem

Thank you Yutka; and I was also thinking – how many naked male models pose for female artists? But that’s me being irreverent! And the accompanying art work with your poems, I’ve been wondering for a while that it was yours; what an added blessing – being able to express together in language and in art.

Dougie

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