What the Landscape Said by Tanaka Mhishi

Kneeling Model, by John Singer Sargent (American, pan-European, b. Italy), 1890?

What the Landscape Said
 
What did she do to torture me
into gold? She looked.
 
She looks and looks,
deploys her plunging eye.
 
I’ve heard her laugh.
It’s dredged up
from somewhere dark, a clatter,
clarion call. But now she looks.
a depth charge blows. I’m
epidermis, deltoid, toe. A feast
of sleeping cells. She looks,
and beauty creeps on me
like ink.
 
Later, we’ll drink beer and laugh
but now I’m only gold and skin.

Tanaka Mhishi

Tanaka Mhishi is a poet, playwright and performer based in London. His work has appeared recently at Rogue Agent Journal and Black Heart Magazine. For more details visit tanakamhishi.co.uk.