POSTMODERN PATCHWORK

Monday morning with artist
catching up on his sleep
among limbs & naked busts
of mannequins.
Outdoors
decapitated seedlings
of Zinnia Thumbelina pose
with needlelike green torsos-
leftovers from last night orgy
of amoral cutworms.
You can smell a bio-engineered
rose -now under a new name-
in a nearby foam cup,
somewhere
in the studio,
the artist is lying perplexed

with a dream
of rendering the latest trends
in human anatomy.
Paint brushes, oils, easel, canvas, and other items
of weekend garage sale
made room for cutting edge
mixed media
of body, blood, blade, sick, sweat, semen
on polyester sheets.

Elena Malec, California 1998