When we bite the hand that feeds, the palm closes. This painting conceptualizes the fruitless fantasizing born from constant comparison—the restless longing that arises when we measure our worth against another’s perceived abundance. Through layered imagery and tensioned hues, the painting reflects how we chase illusions of relationships, prestige, property, and power, at the expense of appreciation for what we already have. It serves as a meditation on gratitude and perception, reminding us that what appears as greener pastures may, in truth, conceal six-feet-deep hollows.

Poem Below:

Monetized Monogamy

A lover placed on layaway found between the cushions. Vibrational currency scraped up with the same frantic nature that the guilty collect themselves with

when caught
in the wrong decision and wrong bed.

Placeholder in a shadow
worn into a formless friendship.

It’s already been lived.
Our honeymoon high- and low-end.

A winged frame like hers
taunts the hermit,
exploits his insecurity.
Self-esteem fashioned of day drinks, a mind which liquifies

when the other head on his shoulders disappears.

The two of us and our drugs wanting love.

Companion plant to a rose.
Our tasteless, insoluble reality
with an almost-aliveness
that intimidates the weary like a clock with only a long hand.

Failing flowers.
Monkey see
evil and how it obliterates,
monkey do evil and often it liberates.

In ruins reminiscing over a runaway romance, I took my lover off layaway.