Steerage

Lying back relaxed,
her brown pupils
ever so Cindy Sherman
gaze off,

a worm's eye view
in black and white.

Through the glass
tapered shadows 
architecturally proportionate
disguise traditional ground
from silhouetted figure

Ellsworth Kelly, of course, 
disapproves. But who cares? 
Certainly not our displaced heroine 
modeling nude for Alfred Stieglitz

early on in the twentieth century
when the industrial revolution built 
cities of steel to capture their souls 
until the desert sands beckoned

the prodigal daughter returns
from Broadway, 

boogie woogie 
be damned 

as abandoned skyscrapers afloat 
in negative space, a succession 
of white clouds marching in unison
bloom into petaled cow skulls.

Black nights cooled down 
before their journey west 
holding hands 
with another monkey king 

and true to form he now sheds his clothes

in intense heat.