Artless - 3 Poems

Artless

People are watching

My hands are on her skin
Beneath her dress
My fingers nimble as I
Do what she tells me

“Is it okay?” I ask
Stepping away when
Finished, laughing
She nods happily

Stepping forward to
Engulf me in an embrace
Maybe stab me in the back
But

People are watching
__

“I’m here,” she says reassuringly
Her smile bright like the vivid
Colours of her art

She smiles happily at you
All joy and sickly sweetness
Like her cheap perfume

You can smell her as she steps
Closer, you’re fumbling with
Your bag, your phone, your words

She places both hands on your
Face, holding you so you can’t
Look away, like a statue

Shaped into a pose by
Soft guiding hands
And frozen by time

“We missed you,” she says.
__

He presses two fingers into
The small of my back and I wonder
If its vindication, vengeance
Laughing coolly, I turn around

“Is this animosity?”

He moves towards the food
Laid neatly on the tables like
Sacrificial offerings to god
And he laughs just as coolly

“No. I have nothing but feelings
Of Goodwill for you.”

He pauses, and takes a bite
Out of the crunchy blood-red chip
And chews thoughtfully before
Cocking his head like his son

“Although is that guilt I hear
Coming from you?”

“No,” I say quietly as he
Moves on

“It’s nostalgia.”