by Derek Buttress
For Pauline Lucas
This canvas is so deeply red,
its vibrant rouge pokes me in the eye.
The artist calls it ‘Xenolith X‘,
although it’s unlike any xenolith
that I’ve ever seen.
But this painting seems happy
just being red,
so happy it’s almost smiling.
It probably doesn’t know
it’s name is Xenolith X.
I’m smiling myself.
No, this painting
should be called ‘Red Painting‘,
even though there’s a little green
and a scumble of pink
dabbed on like an afterthought.
Maybe I’ll stay here a while
to enjoy this canvas
being an eye-poking red,
a painting, and not a xenolith.
Derrick Buttress lives in Nottingham and can’t stop writing.
The Pygmy Giant 