by Lola Koundakjian, translated by Isabella Jiang
Today my work is found
in the depths of a museum—to greet
the shadows, the many suns
& hues within: to sweep
the past aside, as sooted hair, & let
the fancies pierce
to the fore.
Today my work is to read a book—to turn
anew,
again,
such things over in my head: the daily,
the everyday;
the living & the everyman—to write blue, blue,
blue,
& so much ocean.
Today my work is to paint—to measure and to cut
these pages—
to, before the watery scrabble
and flirt of it,
carry out this brush’s menabar. A self-portrait—
silhouette—
skin—
Today my work is to create.