SandScript 2021

LEMONS AND ORANGES
T. Gullett
Hello darling, how are you?
I’ve been busy, if you couldn’t tell
by the ink in the table grooves and the
acrylic on my shirt and the graphite on
my hands staining the curve of my palms.
I’ve been trying to keep myself focused,
busy while you’re away, and I just-
Well to speak plainly, my love,
I feel half-faint from the fixatives, and
half-drunk on paint water and the sight of your face.
I keep trying to work on my lessons,
the poster for that theater, the landscape for
that exhibit, the open-form for that show, but
I keep returning to the curl of your smile,
the dip of your shoulders and the slope of your back.
The camera might wash you out, leach all the color,
but I see the color of your tie in my paint,
your eyes in the bottom of my morning cup,
your hair in the graphite I lay on the page.
No classical muse, maybe, but mine anyways.
Yes, I’m using your mug right now,
Lemons because I’m so bitter.
But, my love, you sweeten just like them
with a bit of sugar and care, a tender touch,
and, honey, it’s far lonelier without you.
110