Mapplethorpe

after Robert Mapplethorpe’s Self Portrait, 1980

by Krystle Eilen

half youthful, half emaciated,

he reflects the epicene

and the languishing.

his head is all shock and flurry;

his mouth a toothless brevity.

half Madonna, half Antinous,

he reflects a decadent flower

both wilting and transcendent.

his eyes suggest a having seen,

two eternally startled interims.

a princely pauper

whose aspect reflects that of

a parched orchid culled

too soon.

*originally published in Hive Avenue Literary Journal

BIO: Krystle Eilen is a poet currently attending university. Her works have been featured in Eunoia Review, A Thin Slice of Anxiety, BlazeVOX, Poetry Life and Times, ZiN Daily, and Literary Heist among others. In her free time, she enjoys reading and making art.