Self Portrait III

The alembic
could've been
her nascent farrago
of attributes
in which he thought he
espied an earlier self

Could've been
the mad painter's
taiga of thoughts
addressed to his brother
Theo on an afterlife

Most likely it was
a convergence
of things

The skinny-of-his-
consciousness
being
soundless
instinctual
artesian
an abetting blade glinting in
Van Gogh's yellows
her hair
ear severed
cleanly
blood-rush
anon

  — r l swihart