Van Gogh Sans Une Oreille

Thoughts froth, crest, and merge through ocean’s indiscriminate wandering, no recognizable beginning or end like smoke on the wind, melding, melting, fusing coalescing. Reality a fragile grasp held on a two-dimensional canvas once white, clean, stretching taunt, taunt as the implausible reality of our existence- existence standing, stranding, hair, fur, frond's weaving about crowns of trees in rye fields. Everything alive, writhing, wanting, needing, thriving, dying-skin crawling reality like orange oil on the hollow cheeks of despair. Pain, defies, belies, confusion's frame stretching upon illusion's claim-eye to hand, hand to brush the clean, white, membrane between brain pan and paint pan. No recognizable beginning or end melding, melting, fusing, coalescing-gone. Self-Portrait with Fur Cap, Bandaged Ear & Pipe Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890 Dutch) First Published in Five Poetry Magazine 2013