This is the start of the final painting for my upcoming show in Seattle. Last night I dreamt again of thrashing and you on the far shore. You can see the painting as it progresses at this link. Here's an excerpt of the poem from which the title was derived. If I get permission from the publisher, I'll reprint the entire brilliant poem. I highly recommend Dean Young's books. Oil on canvas, 45 x 58, 2013

While You Were at the Doctor’s

I don’t know what scares me more:
Tony’s dream of sculpting the giant head
or the blood on the pillowcase.
Or the three Oks spray painted in the street:
yellow, blue, black
like the backward progress of a bruise.
And the mark on the window where a bird crashed.
How it looks like a kiss with feathers stuck to it.
That’s what I am: a man looking through a crash print
thinking it a kiss.
And the little brown bird shaking its head.
And how after you die I’ll probably eat chocolate again.
And shrimp.
Carefully pulling off the tiny legs,
piling them on the side of my plate.
[...]

Dean Young

Bender

p. 258

Copper Canyon Press

©2012