Nicole Devarenne
Two Portraits of a Lady
i
In the centre of the room
her hair. Flame
red is balanced by the pore
points of scarlet in her
apricot skin. Her
neck
pre-Raphaelite,
solitary and exquisite;
breasts and belly
rounded, alluring;
feet long, high-
boned
ii
She sits,
coolly
hating the
thing
on the canvas.
She, too,
used to paint.
But they like her
better
this way, nude
on a footstool.
When they’re done
she goes home
and conjures it up
in the bedroom mirror —
piles in a pyre
on the top of her head
the hair, flame red—
what remains of a fire
that used to be.
She liked landscapes.
She might have been good at it.
But that was when she was still young,
and thought the world was interested.
Page(s) 8-9
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