“Photographer”

She strings gauze
over the lens
to give the film
that hazy look
so apparent in pollen

When the footage
develops, that moldering
art form, her sister
grins in the background
like a thumbprint on a
damp oil painting

every crease of the
skin indented onto
canvas

and so saps attention
away from the pastoral
nexuses she has snapped
up through shutters

(The trellis smothered in
ivy, varicose veins

Flaxen petals outstretched
drinking in sun like ale

A worm writhing
its way across pawed earth)

The iridescent film
strips litter the floor
unworthy leaves
floating, falling
from stubborn oak

She feigns artist suicide
and slumps down on the
bed with a migraine
between her headphones