plate 13

come close.

let me look at you

peeled like oranges

from acid Venus.

let the light do the work.

what else do you have to do

but reveal yourselves,–– glossy,

painterly, inside-out, digging down

twin-to-twin chest deep beneath

a shimmering water?

covergirls!

gracing the room leaving smears

of paint where they fell on the table.

"clam diggers" de Kooning 1963