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Two Nudes on a Tahitian Beach, 1894
Two Nudes on a Tahitian Beach, 1894 - Selina Tusitala Marsh
Two Nudes on a Tahitian Beach, 1894
Gauguin,
you piss me
off.
You strip me bare
assed, turn me on my side
shove a fan in my hand
smearing fingers on thigh
pout my lips below an
almond eye and silhouette me
in smouldering ochre.
I move
just a little
in this putrid breeze
hair heavy to
fuscous knees, still
I’m the pulse
on the arm of this wall
and I’ve drawn her to me again.
Here she comes.
Not liking that she likes me
not liking you, but knowing that she
likes me, not liking you
liking me, but she
likes me and sees me,
but not you,
because you
Gauguin,
piss us
off.
from Fast Talking (Auckland University Press, 2009), © Selina Tusitala Marsh 2009, used by permission of the author and the publisher.