Deborah Tyler-Bennett
Mr Hogarth is Unwell
I’m the painter’s pug. From
high sash-windows, he and I
look down on a loud-
lamenting crowd.
They mourn a
silken Countess who
(two days ago) wits much reviled -
now, hacks embrace her shroud
as they’d caress a favoured child.
I growlingly consider
crowds fair game, as does
my master.
Although
I’ve heard him say
his forte
lies with epics, his
rising hackles
mirror mine, pulsing
for this jostling, posturing,
throng who how ....
howl so long.
Not to sketch them would be wrong ....
wrong .... Rakes, Insipids, Toasts and Cits,
Oglers, Critics, Prigs and Beaux,
throw a favour, toss a rose
grindingly grief’s traffic flows.
Howl, as galleon skirted
super-models sail
past beggars,
blasted by on Opium’s gale,
my yaps ask where the buggers
think they are?
My master quiets me, amazing
how slack jaws resemble mine! His
pug eyes sicken to paint
ancient scenes. This
man’s unwell, squat fingers
paw crowds, in vain, for
gods and emperors - his
bawdy muse already
reaching
for
the ground.
Page(s) 16-17
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