Sunflowers
After an afternoon of absinthe and digitalis, Vincent Van Gogh
Sways out of the harsh daylight into his saccharine sump
Christened the Yellow House.
His linen smelt of turpentine.
Small, wild, seedy pupils watched
As he plastered their torsos without
Limbs, sinuous, sinewless, and spineless.
Then his Sunflowers spoke,
The yellow paint is tempting.
I know people talk and I know they talk in whispers
And with their eyes too
Just another sacred stroke of impasto
Would it taste like ecstasy?
A guzzle of the gnarly night’s gargoyle moon
Would it burn off God’s salivating seethe?
A swill of supple teeth and stiff rum, a crusty chaser of an engorged paint tube
Would it taste like brie and wet dreams?
His overcooked eyes glazed
Flaxen like a chewy egg yolk.
They blend and bloom in the plagued fields
Of jaundiced petals and pigmented pus.
The yellow paint is tempting.
I think we’ll be just fine.
He cradles his floral clippers
They will be voiceless like God…
He had painted his tongue saffron.
The rivers of Arles are full of skeletons
When will the pink elephants join the herd, Vincent?
The pigeons your prostitute fed have all flown and hit the bloody roofs
When will you, Vincent?
The mellow pain is tempting.
He slices the node waiting to hear it thud…
It falls quiet like a pulp, like a pulp beaten into fiction.
Muzzle for eternity.
Callie Lau is an interdisciplinary storyteller, painter, and singer-songwriter. Currently, Callie is an undergraduate student at USC pursuing a Narrative Studies BA with a minor in Music Industry, and is a member of the cinema fraternity, Delta Kappa Alpha. Inspired by her favorite artists Sylvia Plath, FKA Twigs, and Michelangelo, Callie imbues her poetry with incongruous aesthetics and the transgressive power of femininity. Her recent single and music video, “Tragedies in July,” can be found on Spotify and YouTube.