Broken hearts

Broken hearts

in the famous hallway
with endless private doors

the maid scrubs the wall
she cleans the floors

while overhead more bombs
continue to fall

inside the doorway of the cafe
scattering paper
upsetting a tray

then just before dawn
everyone was gone

cups of coffee spilled
mounds of tears
more people killed

and a long run begins on nervous feet
towards Broadway for an opening night seat

where "Hero is almost dead," the black swan said,
with a bullet in his brain

now, no memory can remain

The kitten sips warm milk in a nuclear haze

An old man dreaming till the end of his days

Nearby, a baby cries
from hunger
soon dies

more poison falling from the skies

All their stories pointing fingers
more time is passing and more time lingers

Broken hearts

an apple pie and cherry tarts

Bombs are falling on the firing line
innocent blood runs red

"Lips without a name," is what He finally said

on a deserted island with sandals underneath His toes,

as the warm breeze strokes His forehead, so everybody knows

Broken hearts.

Eva Bender

a no-fly zone over Libya

a Nissan electric car

the perfect porch in Gretna
i wonder who you are?

surviving heartache

a watercolor touch

if i ask you for an answer
is that asking for too much?

tiny tea cup
on a handrail

free at last

released from jail?

why'd he do it?

black and blue

did the kitchen sink
grow tired of you?

2 tulip bulbs
one red kiss smile

a Swedish heart

to paint for a little while.

a walk in the woods

could you learn to love me
if i never change?

if i stay the same when the wild winds blow

and i never hide as my hair is tossed
because this wind is strong and my hair is dry and long
and i won't seek shelter as i walk in the woods
listening to the sound when it disappears in a natural rush

could you learn to love me
if i never change?

if i stay the same when the calm air comes

and i always sigh as i touch the grass
because this air is fine and the grass is a friend of mine
and i won't run away as i walk in the woods
listening to the sound when it appears as a natural hush

could you learn to love me?

because i love my life and my work and my play
which is a part of who i am and i am content and happy

could you learn to love me
if i never change?

Jacqueline

Her gun?
A deadly piece of metal and sweat
and bullets, for sure,
after hours at the exhibition
when the lights went dark
in the south of France.

Married Years?
It was twenty, the chroniclers say,
she played the empress with an
exaggerated neck on his canvas,
and in his bed with her feline face,
there was a painting to be made.

The Musee Picasso in Paris
never heard the sound.

One by hanging, earlier, and now
the smell of gunpowder in another lonely room.

polka dots

Stay with me so
I might paint your face.
I'll crown your hair,
combing it long and smoothly in the back.
Then, a thin scarf, centered and
tied neatly under your chin
with two sections set softly on your chest.
Your arms folded low,
I notice again how angular the nose,
how open the forehead, how strong
the overall countenance, how soft
the smile.
Folded, too, is the sleeve of your left arm
and your skin is cool with a sudden draft.
Sit in this upholstered chair, here.
I'll pull the white window drapes and set up a light.
Tell me the story of straightening my tie
before I left the studio for a recent interview.
It was good I wore a vest, yes?
That's it, relax. Of course, cross your legs.
Your ankles are not nicer than your hands.
No, they both delight. Look this way.
There! It's finished.
Yellow and blue polka dots are a nice background,
don't you think?

Never is

How could he not love her:

Necklace and neck and fancy ring
and breasts and hair and hips
and heavenly eyes with their deep shine
of perfect ass.

One eye golden,
one brown,

the brows above the eye
on the left side & the right
made from a sharp bold pencil stroke.

Her dark lips, a perfect mystery to be solved.

Her strength lifts him from his chair,
as his cigarette ash falls to the painted floor.

The short walk lasts a lifetime.

"But it's finished," he said,
after they'd left the bed

and there won't be another
who walks the dog in the rain,
or holds his head in a cloud

quite like her.

There never is.

cold glass

your lips

the boat fills with sensation
the tide heaves in shafts of light

the Earth

moves in tandem
and high speed tires squeal,
entering their corner with too much speed

my tongue

inspects the silent moan
you inhabit

and together imagination exhausts
our memory

my bare forehead is pressed upon
cold glass

while below the valley is gray

The Dora Maar Affair

The brown rabbit with thin ears sat upon a blue circle and took a curiously surrealist look around, finding several orange crates and a pink stamp stuck onto a small corner of the neighborhood bar. There, the minotaur grabbed his fine glass and took an extremely long pull, swallowing his pride with his famous bull on a hard chair inside the Deux Minots cafe on the famed Left Bank of Paris where Madam Figaro threw her bleeding knife between the fingers of her shutter hand. Her brightly-colored nails were trimmed and lady-like as she cleaned the white tablecloth with her anxious sighs. North of the Louvre in the 8th arrondissement sat this private moment of two artistic minds with French red wines between an overcoat and a scarf. His thick layer of oil paint on the clear glass etched a deep thought and with an easy laugh, it became a negative and a muse was born.

and jelly

well it's a lot more than you think
i washed my hands with you
in my neighbor's stainless kitchen sink
it's driving me to drink
and i scrubbed and dried
pulled at my plug
everything was spinning i nearly died
then i fell into the hall
i didn't eat for fourteen days
climbing up the bedroom wall
growing small
waiting for the telephone
which never rings
i'm sitting all alone
writing your name off my list
that would be simply easier
if we had never kissed
if we hadn't shared a laugh
or walked together in the rain
then shared a bath
i'm poking you in the belly
making you another sandwich
peanut butter and jelly
and i'm watching you chew
asking me to do
whatever it is i want to do
well it's a lot more than you think