Monet of a Mind
By Kristina Gibbs
The days are confetti:
explosions of brief and blinding hues.
—raw red, pale yellow, navy blue—
this impressionistic fuzz
cloudingandobstructing
Me from you.Your fingertips coated in acrylics,
stain the thin nightgown as you wander
and smear paint down the halls. The walls
are Hibiscus red. From your dyed skin
I entwine your hands in mine and
stroke
your pale tufts, imagining when this corn
silk once glinted gold in the sun,
and try to anchor your mind in Homer’s Odyssey
but you always did favor Pollock’s Blue (Moby Dick)
explosions of brief and blinding hues.
—raw red, pale yellow, navy blue—
this impressionistic fuzz
cloudingandobstructing
Me from you.Your fingertips coated in acrylics,
stain the thin nightgown as you wander
and smear paint down the halls. The walls
are Hibiscus red. From your dyed skin
I entwine your hands in mine and
stroke
your pale tufts, imagining when this corn
silk once glinted gold in the sun,
and try to anchor your mind in Homer’s Odyssey
but you always did favor Pollock’s Blue (Moby Dick)
I paint by your numbers. To reach you. To see
through your Monet of a mind: hazy, abstract
lines softened by wear—tear— of time.
# 1. Take me inside your nightshade. This poison like Judas, betrays because of silver.
# 2. I sit and stare, lacking the colors to speak—to reach—you.
# 3. You stare, a blank canvas, at a wall.
# 4. Voices (red) swirl and mix past with now.
# 5. Remember our suns together (yellow)
# 6. Blue (the chamber walls).
Kristina Gibbs is an emerging writer from the hills of Tennessee, who recently completed a BA in English, with an emphasis in literature, and a minor in linguistics at Lee University. She has previously published in Speaking of Marvels, North of Oxford Review, and Zingara Poetry Review. When she is not reading or writing, you may find her clambering over both hiking trails and paint brushes.