Sublimation from Solid Straight to Neon
If we could turn you into something pure,
We might choose poetry, or paint, or stone.
The words might cleanse out faults then scalpel cure.
The words would take away all gasp and moan.
The painting on the canvas would not probe
Beneath your hair and skin. The colors and the sheen
Would leave your bones untouched and like a robe
Would hide as if you were a nun-like clean.
The marble might be any color, black
Or topaz orange almost–or even blue
Omitting fault, avoiding sad and slack.
The final form would leave out shapes askew.
All whites inside the work of art would hide.
Your elemental truths would be denied.
~ Phillip Whidden