The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • The Ekphrastic Academy
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead

Modi's Hands, by Evelyn Jackson

6/12/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
Nu Couche, by Amedeo Modigliani (Italy) 1917-1918

Modi's Hands

Gooseflesh prickles my skin. I shiver. It’s brutally cold lying nude while he paints. The only warmth comes from a small brazier of coal he puts by his easel to keep his oils from freezing. He opens the window a bit because the room fills with choking fumes. When he paints, the creative fire burning within warms him.

His black eyes glitter with inspiration as his cold-chapped hands hold brushes loaded with red, gray, white, yellow. Those hands never cease daubing, smearing, spreading colour as he recreates me on canvas. Hands that bring the bottle to his lips time after time as he studies what he’s painted. Those eyes that are hard, determined and see nothing but his vision.

"I have to use the pot," I say to him. He growls his consent. I step behind the screen, relieve myself in the chamber pot there.

He’s tearing off a piece of baguette when I emerge. The wine bottle was full when we began; it’s empty now, not three hours later.

"Bring me another bottle, Jeanne."

I try to caution him. We never begin before noon these days. He’s too sick from the wine to get out of bed earlier.

"I’m hungry, Modi, let me have a bite."

He thrusts the baguette at me. I swallow a bit of stale bread with a sip of the cheap wine. It burns all the way down, but warms my gut.

I return to the chaise longue and twist my body into the pose he wants.

I stare out the window as his hands and eyes again become the hard, mechanical tools of his genius. Northern light arcs across the rooftops as the day dwindles to dusk. Soon it will be too dark for him to paint.

He looks at me then and changes. His dark eyes become soft, liquid pools of desire. His paint-stained hands relax. He unbuttons his shirt and trousers, tosses them on the wooden table where we eat. Naked now he bids me follow him to our bed. His gaze travels down my body as I walk toward him.
​

We sink onto the stiff, uncovered mattress and pull a dirty blanket over our bodies. His eyes melt me. His hands stroke my skin. And he begins to create me again with those hands, those hands of his genius, hands of a Master.
​
Evelyn Jackson

Evelyn Jackson is retired, living in beautiful Livingston, MT. She writes in all genres, but has recently discovered flash fiction. Modigliani is her favourite painter. It's said that although he painted his lover, Jeanne Hubeterne, over twenty times, he never painted her in the nude. Or did he??

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    The Ekphrastic Review
    Picture
    Current Prompt
    Picture
    COOKIES/PRIVACY

    This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies.

    Opt Out of Cookies
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Picture
    Join us: Facebook and Bluesky
    @ekphrasticreview.



    ​
    ​Archives
    ​

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015

    Lorette C. Luzajic [email protected] 

  • The Ekphrastic Review
  • The Ekphrastic Challenges
    • Challenge Archives
  • Ebooks
  • Prizes
  • Book Shelf
    • TERcets Podcast
  • The Ekphrastic Academy
  • Give
  • Submit
  • Contact
  • About/Masthead