"Dance for me, in the hex-chambers"

Haiku Sequence: "Painter of Light"

The struggling artist
Draws inspiration from God
And kitsch becomes art.

Home shopping networks
And Christian allegory
Bring career success.

Burdens also come
Darkness elimination?
Illumination!

Hangover-lit senses
Every lightbulb is the Sun
As the paintbrush moves.

He drinks for voltage
Later body weak, hands quick
Eyes like cats at night.

Drinking made his art
Urban living room success
At the cost of health.

Rehab heals liver
Dulling palette, shades of grey
No hangovers here.

Reconcile the wife
And remember children’s names
Step into shadows.

Without light he suffers
No pastel warmth remains in
Snowy cavalcades.

Just a little drink
See the world glowing anew
That slippery slope.

The colours returned
Amber whiskey and chartreuse
Absinthe fuel his brush.

His love walked away
To Antipodean climes
Taking children with.

Other friends moved in
With nonsense names like codeine
Vicodin wattage.

Behaviours erratic
Urinates on hotel art
Tragic, reproduced.

The lights are fading
Quantities up, output down
Blood lush, palette dry.

Dying on Good Friday
Sun shining red and yellow
In sad black and white.