Dead Folk Talking About Painting

Dead Folk Talking About Painting

Long dead and recently gone painters
wave to me as I walk through galleries in this city
each wanting to say something

Their messages enter my eyes and I take from
them what strikes me and always it goes into my pocket
for future reference

I look and in a sense listen with my non-hearing
parts and each time note that I might or will
make my own reply to these old painters

I have just ordered rolls of heavy duck canvas
to paint upon, unsized, big ass rolls,
the same rough canvas used for sailing ships

Perhaps one might in this century
be painting on some aerospace fiber
or on the air itself

It might seem so old fashioned to
consider applying ideas to
unfurled cotton, as if painting on cave walls

Yet, I ordered, via the internet,
the thickest and widest roll of cotton duck
as tactile and substantial as canvas can be

and yes, it had been years since I rolled
out a painting surface beneath my feet
on the concrete warehouse floor

It will be waiting for me when I return
and I believe I will know what to do when
we meet and I won't be painting

like an old dead man

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