Venetian Patina

Barbara Taylor Hall

Painted the abstract

I saw at a show and bought

After it toured and won awards.

I had to have it

Because the rich

Rust-colored hues

Reflect the ancient

Buildings of Venice and

The oldest part of my soul

Before and after happiness

Because the off-white swirling circles

Towards the bottom

Reflect the gyre

That is my life.

Other lines

Are straight

Like my mathematical poems

Like the lines coming at me

From inadequate men

Like the screams

That still haunt me

On sleepless nights.

The splotches of color

Are a softer version

Of the horror

I feel when I see cellular ghosts

Drawing me back

To an unwelcoming mother’s womb.

This painting is the geometry of my being;

It is at once rigid, soft, and mysterious,

Though it has a beauty

That has since vanished from my mirror.