after Edward Hopper
Day burns its wick
to gilt horizon.
Behind the still-damp
washbowl,
the room gathers
shadows like an apronful
of black poppies
as she bends a knee
to raise herself
onto the rumpled
bed sheets, quiet
in that moment
between work and ease —
then her flesh
suddenly expectant
as sheers lift
in the unseen—
white and white
like winding sheets
unfurled in the cold
mouth of a chiseled tomb.
But first the susurrant
seduction, the dizzying
breath of praise.
Frank Paino was born in Cleveland, Ohio and earned an MFA from Vermont College. His third book, Obscura, was published by Orison Books in 2020. Frank has received a Pushcart Prize, The Cleveland Arts Prize in Literature, and a 2016 Individual Excellence Award from the Ohio Arts Council. His poems have appeared in a variety of literary publications, including: Crab Orchard Review, Catamaran, North American Review, World Literature Today, The Briar Cliff Review, Lake Effect and the anthologies, The Face of Poetry, Poets for Life and Beyond Earth’s Edge: The Poetry of Spaceflight. His website is: https://www.frankpaino.net