Mark Arvid White
With Every Stroke
That new painting of yours hangs in the gallery
The way a sniper leans out of a tower window
Picking out passers-by in random disorder,
Just to watch them burn with some kind of uncomfortable envy.
You paint the way you love,
brush licking canvas, teasing, taunting, tasting,
curiously you explore all that white flesh,
laying down your blues and greens, golds and orange-greys,
every single one of them the color of a blush.
Bio
Mark Arvid White lives in Alaska, and has been writing poetry and stories for a number of years. He is devoted to haiku and other Japanese forms, but also loves to write in many other non-Eastern styles, including Fibonacci. His publication credits include such print and online journals as Modern Haiku, Frogpond, Candelabrum, Permafrost, Japanophile, Wild Violet, AlienSkin, and many others in the U.S. and abroad. He has received best of issue awards, appeared in numerous anthologies including A Haiku Moment, and has won various contest awards. He is the founder of the Shin Tao Haiku Retreat, a gathering place for poets online in the virtual community of Second Life.