‘The Colony’, ‘Morning’ & ‘Dignity’
The painter OrchidofAntinous is a mixed media and watercolor artist based in Ottawa, Canada.
The Colony
artists live in Quartzsite, Arizona
in old vans, Volkswagen buses
they play the zither,
read Shakespeare
they read Harold Bloom,
John Berger,
and they misread, mis-see
their art is derivative
Art Deco lions
busts of Mickey Mouse
collages of bumper stickers from every place they’ve ever been
they paint small with Sharpies and Crayola markers
and large with Rustoleum
they weave pieces no one will ever see
with no treadle,
no shuttle even,
just a solitary needle
and an infinite spool of thread
they make sculptures out of unhewn rocks
stacked without mortar or cement
that require repair by other people
the casual passerby
they make murals with chunks of marble,
with minerals,
unpolished gemstones,
all gathered within walking distance
they write poems about snakes and scorpions
they are not for sale
they have no artist statement
they are desperate
their work is never finished
they live alone
they unravel
there are no museums
Morning
The day dawns crisp and cool
outside
where I sleep.
Alarms go off
inside
in nearby buildings,
and people soon gush out
like water from a fire hydrant
like dogs
all on the scent
of money.
I sit and arch my back
with not a dollar to my name,
the day stretching out before me
like a silken cat
awakening
to something infinite,
primordial,
un-actualized potential.
Dignity
sometimes consists of dumpster diving
digging through the garbage
in search of day-old bread
expired macaroni
wilted greens and mushy fruit
anything to escape the looks of people
who turn their noses up
because I smell of sweat
and three-day body odor
people so neat and clean, they are
oblivious to their own scent
one I can detect a mile away
a deadly combination of chemical deodorant
and the cloying smell of pity
Jennifer Handy is the author of the poetry chapbooks California Burning (Bottlecap Press, 2024) and Dirt (Finishing Line Press, 2025).
