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All Acts of Beauty Hide Something

Saba Khaliq

 

All acts of beauty hide something

In the bargain of stealing all kinds of eyes

As long as one can keep Time waiting backstage

 

All acts of beauty are smooth cover-ups

 

On the artist’s table was a rotten apple

Its hideous skeletal skin

Sucking my delicious apple-eating memories

 

In my electrified hand was a photograph

Sepia, dog-eared, washed beyond recognition

And they called it an ugly aesthetic

 

All acts of beauty nauseate the unslept

Driving round the earth

Burying purpled moles – flashed and unwarmed

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