It’s hard to paint glass / the play of light on objects / seems bigger in hindsight / as I take up my brush / I think about the torment of St Anthony / and the thought of being alone in the wilderness / is strangely seductive
How do you make a monster / in the good ol’ days / they’d stitch a monkey to a fish / and call it a mermaid / if you looked when you shouldn’t / there was an illusion of a butterfly / to tempt you into thinking / there was nothing to see there / yet deeper in the shadows / there was always a goat / and a touch of feathers
Balanced on the plank of now and after / I wish I’d know how to spot a fake / to check attachments / looking for glue / or stitches made with fish gut / you marked pages in books with your fingers / drawing my eyes to your hands / so I ignored the claws on your feet
One day I will think of you / as a demon sent to torture / climbing into my head / offering pipes / and other things made to confuse / I’ll be glad I survived / but today as I return to my self portrait / I send up a prayer to the other Anthony / the patron saint of lost things / and paint on a smile / until I can find it again
Adele Evershed was born in Wales and has lived in Asia before settling in Connecticut. Her poetry and prose have been published in a number of journals and anthologies Adele has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net for poetry. Finishing Line Press published her poetry chapbook, Turbulence in Small Places this year and her novella-in-flash, Wannabe, was published by Alien Buddha Press in May. Her second poetry collection, The Brink of Silence will be available from Bottlecap Press later this year.
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