Captures & Frees
[for John Beadle,
this poem inspired by his painting,
"In Full Bloom"]

what is she looking back at or looking back for
pretty black woman with delicious breasts bare
with nipples protruding - what mood, what situation
is she in, was she caught in

is she caught or is she free of this artist's brush hairs
rubbed into- onto canvas

we use a rubber to rub out effort we want to do away with
what's here, what appears, this artist is proud of

woman I could purchase if I had enough
as much in my pocket as I have love in my heart

I'd pay for her manumission


© Obediah Michael Smith, 2011
6:13 p.m. 10.08.06