Oh naughty, sneaky.
The way your eyes linger,
tracing—tracing the curve of my lips,
the rise, the fall—yes, I know this, I do—
the way you—watch me,
memorizing, yes, I remember—
every breath, every flicker—
Your fingers—
they flex, they—move—
yes, I remember, I see you,
your throat—swallowing,
your body hums,
restrained, waiting—
Waiting—waiting for what?
No, no, I had it, I had it—
the way I mirror you,
the way—I see you,
I see you, don’t I?
I—
Wait—where was I?
Your hands—your eyes?
Your lips—was it your lips?
No, no, it was mine, my—
my pulse, quickening, yes,
the heat—was there heat?
I feel—I felt something, didn’t I?
The space—what space?
Who—who was close?
Were you close? Were you—
Oh, God—what was I saying?
I—wait, I—
I know this, I know this!
I—no, no, no—please, where did it go?
Please—
please, I was just—
I was just—
I—
Photo credit: Emilio Villalba
I’m fairly certain that artwork is by Emilio Villalba. He is a friend from college! This a crop of one of his paintings. Unfortunately, I could only find it on Pinterest or Instagram.
Pinterest
@[email protected] Is that the original or a collage?
The one I linked is the original. He did a whole series of just eyes in different arrangements. All of his work is painted, usually oils from what I remember.
He doesn’t have that particular one on his site. I found it through an image search. But, he does have other similar ones done around that time period with different facial features abstracted.
Emilio Villalba Art
@[email protected] Thanks, I edited to give credit.
Great, thank you! It’s so cool to see his work out in the wild.
It’s a fitting complement to the poem. I enjoyed reading it!