Moving to the upstairs in my house we come to these on the walls of the upper hall. First this wonderful paint-by-number that I bought, framed, at a Goodwill on Queen E decades ago. Luckily it was light enough to carry home. I knew this painting from my childhood, though not this specific one, as part of a set that my mother had painted. She did several of such sets & finding it brought back sweet memories.
On the opposite wall is this portrait of me as rendered by Dan Parent who was, at that time, one of the illustrators & writers for Archie comics. I had it done at Fan Expo. I went that year specifically to commission it. He took my photo, I roamed the ‘market’ buying dvd’s, tee shirts, searching for old school horror [Karloff vs Kruger] & come back an hour later & it was ready.
The same holds true for the other portrait that I had done the following year. for an extra five dollars I had more torso 🙂 As you can tell I haven’t aged since these were done but neither of these are my Dorian Gray – that is in a secret spot away from prying thighs.
The ‘demonic force’ was a Christmas gift from a friend at the end of the 1990’s. He enlarged a panel from a Chick Publication & hand-tinted it for me. (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chick_tract#Chick_Publications) I still see this little tracts around, sometimes left on a bus, or rumple dup on the street. Cute propaganda.
Not propaganda is this self-portrait a friend did & gave me as a birthday gift. He was experimenting with colour for that Warhol effect. The last was a gift from David Bateman he gave me during the run of the poetry cabaret The Beautiful & Damned. It is a fun amalgam of Keith Harding & Australian Aboriginal Dreamtime images. It goes up in value every year 🙂
Modern Safety
Kevlar sweats
modern day chainmail
designer duds armour plated
for style lightness and protection
don’t want to look bad
when someone shoots at me
or tries to stab me in the mall
because I looked at them the wrong way
because I was the wrong color
wearing the wrong colors
in the wrong neighbourhood
<>
how to be safe enough
and still look good
don’t want private guards
they’re not the accessories
I had in mind to complete this outfit
to be safe enough
to go to Starbucks for a latte
<>
the fast walk and the scowl
now becomes a challenge
they’ll take me down a notch or two
kick the crap out me to liberate
my limited edition nike’s and iPhone
which they don’t realize
now features global positioning hardware
<>
I hesitate to answer
because I only listen
through an ear piece
that picks up everything you say
funnels it though lie detection software
that tells me I can trust what you say
I stick to the simplest of responses
double double
no don’t super size that
<>
unless those fries
are a bullet resistant shield
I can hold in front of me
as I struggle to get home
without a scratch
– sweet, eh? paypal.me/TOpoet
TOpoet 