Sherrie WELLER

I AM SEDUCED BY GEORGIA'S FLOWERS

because they breathe and bleed
dark pansies and petunias
gyrate color in hot air
engorged, they pulse and lie still.

did she touch herself while
painting to get that effect?
standing an arms length away with
fingers on the bud and the brush?

maybe she felt it when she
stood back and saw
pistils and petals in bright
voices gleam back at her

strokes of velvet hues
oozing over hands
turning verbs and vulvas
into poppies and tulips

maybe an iris in her
garden turned into a set
of lips and teeth covered
in red and plum

maybe they were portraits
of her lovers, each stamen
and stigma a shoulder, an elbow,
a thigh

perhaps
they were simply sighs,
her own deep purple orgasms
grown on canvas

TABLE OF CONTENTS    NEXT PAGE