Joshua Reynolds: Portrait of the Artist, 1780

skinny arms so tired sunday
times spread across the table
kenny clark barely ascendant
over the twitching din of cars
i sense that love has passed
not chasing the bus

alive three hours now
in northern new jersey
a stand-in for the hudson
which shadows the soul
four fingernails peeling off
a little dead skin

[unfinished, 052920110832]