by Gayane M. Haroutyunyan
1. Modigliani in the Moonlight
Before Modigliani painted portraits
of dames and men
in his rusty old shack,
he used to visit a French brothel
ten blocks down
from his house.
He was after women and
hash, mostly not women
because they made him weep and fly
and then ache like a chopped willow.
By the time he was half way there
the sizable bottle of wine in his hand
was empty and he was not sure
where he was headed
or who he was.
The only thing he knew
was the shape of the object
in his hand
a blueprint of his life
and it was moist
and heavy.
2.How Van Gogh lost his ear
I remember
it was Monday.
A cold, unfriendly Monday morning
at my sister’s house
after a drunk night
followed by writing,
none of which I can really claim.
Under my bed,
instead of my hair clip
I found Van Gogh’s ear
with a bouquet of sunflowers in it.
Clearly, I decided, I must keep the flowers
and toss the ear.
3.Dilemma Da Vinci
Leo woke up in a small Brooklyn apartment
on October 4, 2014, at about 2 a.m.
and recognized nothing around him
but a dusty bible on the shelf
and a piece of sky
peeking from a white window behind him.
Strange smells, frozen faces walking the streets
odd colors dressing the landscape
stations of “gas”, tiny houses of Kings
giant mildewed statue in the distance
holding a dead torch
spelled out The Future quietly to a genius.
Scarlett Johansson was Hollywood-smiling
from a Cosmo page on the floor
as he looked on…
I will call her Mona Lisa, he murmured,
and started to paint.
About the Author
Gayane M. Haroutyunyan is an Armenian-American poet who lives in Los Angeles. She has a masters degree in poetry from Sarah Lawrence College. Her work has been featured in Chaparrel, Zetetic, and Apple Valley Review online journals as well as others.