Masterpiece
Barbara Ford
The end was marked
by a blooming archipelago,
violet and maroon
with highlights of green
colonizing the terrain
like algae, his going-away gift
forever wedded to the convergence
of circumstances preceding it,
how a sliver of bone
was chipped off the underside
of the pelvic curve on impact,
how the mirror revealed it in reverse
as his lover inched up
to its flat silver face to marvel
at the expressionist canvas
splayed across bare skin,
a time-released painting
conjured in a single act,
the daily shift in size, shape
and hue proving the wonder
of how a swift compact movement
could elicit this ephemeral work of art
he would not be privileged to see
as it wrapped tightly around thigh,
hip, buttock in a vivid tattoo
of emancipation. One by one
hidden voices erupted
to ululate their welcome
for the hostage returning home
who’d long been given up for dead.
Copyright Credit: Barbara Ford, “Masterpiece” from Survival & Beyond, Issue 3 / Summer 2025 (Safe Passage, 2025). Copyright © 2025 by Safe Passage. Reprinted with the permission of the author.