DUPLICITY, excerpted from George Elliott Clarke’s Gold
Two-faced poet? That’s me.* “Guilty”—as framed.
My double visage suits my double tongue—
Spieling out twice-told tales in spliced duets—
Paper-and-ink, print-on-a-screen—unless
I redouble lies by dubbing aloud.
Let’s say my art’s “Romantic,” so I sport
A rosy halo—like printers’ devils,
And blaze all night, steeped in rosé or blush
(Bed) sheets.… Or say I’m extra “noir,” extra
“Polar,” my face pairing disappeared heart—
AWOL, paroled, sentenced no more to Love.…
Or say my background’s orange—a hint of sun:
It gilds “Apollo”; suns appalling Guilt.
This triptych of twin selves tells I’m split—
North, South, East, West, Hyde-and-Jekyll; thus, each
Ensemble dissembles—in resembling me.
* Cf. portraits by Marco Cera, Guy D. Andrea, et al., unveiled in April
2014 at the Art Gallery of Ontario (courtesy of a class in portraiture
taught by Aleks Bartosik).
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