In Third Body

To know the model.

 

A stranger enters the studio, undressing - We talk

small talk, some politics,

What does he do, for whom did he model.

You find - or you don’t - mutual acquaintances.

 

The body’s nakedness bears but itself

the face reflects what’s there.

Nothing foreign casts its shadow.

No pose, only a position.

 

And when it is a comfortable one,

when there is no effort involved

and the model withdraws into himself

his face acquires a genuine expression, reflecting his feelings

at times his personality too.

 

The eyes look at the model.

One hand strokes the paper

checking its dimensions, its texture

pausing where the other would start drawing:

the center of the body, a certain wrinkle, the hands or toes...or face

which are especially interesting when the body is naked.

 

And you begin.

Drawing the impressiont

the relaxation, the embarrassment

the boredom, the concentration.

Suddenly his eyes move, examining you back, fighting back.

Assuming a mask

resisting the arrest.

 

A living body and a still one

the magic of exertion and the void of disappointment

interpreting on paper the moment of apprehension.

 

E.D.

November 1995