In the Flesh: In the Waves (1889)

Form in motion, no. 2

In the Waves (Dans les Vagues) (1889), Paul Gauguin. Courtesy of the Cleveland Museum of Art, 1978.63.

---

The red pelt is a palm
against the neck. Below, hips spill
into brine, bruised green.

This body is unlike hers: an oily mammal
thudding against the pulse. The spine
held in a hinge of flesh, braced 
as the water tugs it away.

Cold bites
into the marrow of the breast.
Muscle remembers itself 
in the grip of the legs.

There is an end to all this.

Limescale heaves 
against the stone of the ribs
until the lungs peel off, pushed 
into the gate of the teeth.

There is an end to this giving.

---

---