“THE MEDIEVAL ARTIST PAUSES”
I should put Death in this picture but I
don’t see him as an angel: alabaster,
rubbed to a shine, but a lout
in a Flanders tavern. Looking drunk,
asleep, then he gets up with a belch,
a scratch, walks to the fire,
pulls out his cock and pisses
over all. The smoke is foul. He farts.
One whistle, a dog groans and curls tight
beneath the table. Death gives
a randy hand up a slattern’s skirt and a seed
shrivels in her womb.
He leaves the door half open and lets dust
blow in. The dog sneezes as he sleeps.
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AILEEN BASSIS is a visual artist in Jersey City working in book arts, printmaking, photography and installation. Her are can be seen online at www.aileenbassis.com. Her use of text in art led her to explore another creative life as a poet. Her work appears in Gravel Magazine, Milo Journal, Specs Journal, Spillway, Grey Sparrow Journal, Amoskeag and others.