Adam, Eve, and snake
share a fruit snack from the tree.
Find figs in fashion.
Big hair meant great brawn.
Lost in lust, Delilah lied.
One blind act redeemed.
Prayed three times each day.
Pray, to avoid lion’s lunch.
Prey not, for Dan prayed.
Shad, Mesh and Abed:
Forty foot idol of gold.
No bow–fire–no die.
Minute man, big foe.
One choice stone properly placed.
Fought well. Believed well.
One Man, once for all.
His death exchanged for our life.
He lives, so we live.
My creases gone, my knees sore and stained with grass,
I embrace the kneading purr–a delicate setting at last.
With bleeding reds of ketchup, blood or wine,
the singe of one-hundred-forty degrees purifies
and lifts the spots, now soaked, washed and laundered.
Harsh detergents, new and improved, promise a deeper clean.
My fabric burns, naked and immersed in the ammonia chlorine.
Starched encounters softened by Downy blue
retain the garden stench of potpourri perfume.
Fifty-five minutes of tortured agitation squandered.
My world spins, dizzy. My mouth opens, watering to retch.
Then I rest, thirsty. The filtered rinse preparing to drench.
Gray water discharges to the long-awaited drain,
the evacuating reminder of a darkened disdain.
As my fleshy garment emerges afresh, I ponder–
the wash cycle’s cruel kindness.
How would I paint suffering?
I’d choose a palette infused with browns and reds.
I’d squeeze onions to wet the watercolors,
warpaint under my eyes to battle with the canvas.
I’d paint with acrylics in an airtight closet
and one fifteen-watt incandescent bulb.
No smiling scratch-n-sniff.
No fruity tones.
No bouquets.
I’d lick the spongy tips to moisten them,
the venom of pepper-vinegar affixed to my tongue.
I’d whip bold, plucky, cutting strokes,
hurrying to finish and flip to the other side.
I’d not use paint at all, but spread gritty chalks on a new, black board,
screeching as they give themselves to the art.
I’d look away, toward the finished image of perfection,
the box-top of a jigsaw puzzle.
I’d finger-paint, boiling the colors to singe my fingertips,
adding blood to the red
and body to the brown.
Then I’d hammer nails in its hands and hang it high for all to see,
the beauty redeeming the pain.
