Douglas G. Campbell

beautiful artwork

suspended from tracks and cables

staggered across white walls

I want to paint like that again

I’ve been robbed

the right hand dangling and stiff

the left hand imprecise

I encounter two paintings

a crescent wrench

against grass and sky

the long red handle leads

to serrated steel jaws

rachet down around my tongue

counterclockwise

and free my words

a green apple hovers in the face

of a stoic business man

on a gray, Wednesday afternoon

red tie choking the conversation

apple obscuring the pain