Innocent Eye, 2000
Madeline Ricard
__________
After the painting by Heather Ryan Kelley
__________
Pasted onto patchy paper worth more
than I could afford when I was in art school,
photocopied Barbie legs meet my gaze.
The black & white legs flutter and dance
on top of cursive letters — ii, f, jjj, kk,
a lost art my own peers can barely read.
I can’t explain it; they need to be saved,
to be purified from the eyes
of confused women and wandering men.
I am prepared to leap and launch,
when I’m dragged to my seat,
my ill-conceived heist suddenly halted.
I sit and I’m met with the realization
that the Barbie legs are actually porcelain,
and I am no savior.
__________
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Posted in When in Rome: Nov '25 and tagged in #boudin, #poetry, Poetry