She’s just painted her toenails and she likes the way they look.
Autocorrect said, “Painting Tonsils.” I hate letting autocorrect down. Maybe the next one should be that.
I haven’t drawn with real ink in so long, I forgot how tricky it is. I accidentally blooped a big drop on her hair! Fortunately I have many tricks up my sleeve now, and was able to hide it.
I don’t like this drawing very much. I think that’s why I keep blathering about it.
HOLY FRACK IT’S INKTOBER and I’ve missed seven days already! How could I have been so negligent????? This is what I get for wallowing in self-isolation and creative blankness.
I better start inkin’…
every person is a joy
…to varying degrees
Contrary to my reputation, I am actually very likable.
Every day when she comes in she does a new hat trick
In an effort to make the receptionist smile
All tricks are met with stony faces
The tricks get more and more extravagant
She acquires a cane
She throws ten, twenty feet high
She bows
She draws a few spectators, regulars every morning to watch the trick
But never does she draw a smile from her target
One day she doesn’t come in
Another second day passes, she won’t answer the phone
They call the police
Who break in to find her
Wrists slit
Two days dead.
When the receptionist hears,
All she has to say is
“I knew she was fucking crazy.”
Pull me into your slough.
I can take it.
I’ve learned to tread the water.
I know the routes.
I can’t lead you out
But I can sit beside you a while
And visit.
Eons pass
And the stars wrap around me.
I am born under Capricorn
I grow up under Orion
In the crisp country night
I see black and white.
Under the bright fluorescents of education
I learn what color means.
I get a job
In a room with high speckled ceilings.
I struggle smally.
I see the moon in the mornings
And dappled winter sunsets.
I grow old
Joints from creaks to cries
Complaints from whispers to shouts
My hands grasping at light-pierced blankets
I face my own mortality.
And the stars wrap around me.
Sarah D. Silvey 