by Chella Courington
i. Portrait of the Artist in Oils
Dali engine
broken
teeth sailing in air
popping eyeballs
lips split
dangle on moon’s ladle
tossing them into
steel bowls
onion
olives
radicchio
streaked white.
ii. Portrait of the Artist’s Parents in Kodak
1953: Panama City
father Burt Lancaster dark hair over forehead
artist floating face up arms stretched
waves washing over.
1986: Martlin Road
crows on telephone wire
anticipate call
your mother is dead your life is short.
1958: Daytona Beach
mother Deborah Kerr halter around neck
long legs cut at ankle
white skin freckled spreading archipelagos
chain her to what was.
1964: Florida Avenue
gulls gut crab shell for porch trays
Lucky Strikes
hang from father’s lips.
1940: Walker County
boy works bituminous plugs jaw with Redman
overalls posed at the pinhole
full scuttle rising.
iii. Portrait of the Artist in 8 mm
Poised at pool’s end
arms arrow-like
slice water
pull head and torso
under surface and into sky:
artist rips away cap
hair furiously free
dazzles the lens
shutterless.
