Laughing Rachel Coventry

Laughing

after Maggi Hambling’s painting

No matter what I say you will never see his laugh as Maggi Hambling’s lover throws back her head in the wild ecstasy of hilarity, a wave captured in the instant of explosion.

I cannot show you, how his laughter folds him the other way into himself, a waxing moon stuttering on water.

I have no paint, only words and words are so duplicitous, this very evening, for instance, that faceless grin teeters on rivers, oceans, and rain collected in basins, bowls, and saucers.

Rachel Coventry

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