Inspired by Wayne Thiebaud and containing the titles of 40 of his pieces.

you’ve heard the tired tale before: a girl is a rose,
best untouched, on display, and then dead,
but get a load of this one: girl is also cherries,
consumed and spat out like the crown tart she is
because she let untitled seated nude male eat all around the cake
like a cut melon for lunch. girl is both watermelon slice and knife,
six candied apples, six desserts in one, six italian desserts
girl is satan’s snack bar,
soul rattling around a dark gumball machine,
satan goes munch munch on girl’s malleable soul
and her two jolly cones, too.

lest we forget the thrust of it: girl is caged
pie, untitled pie slice, white and muted and divided
and with intact cherry for show.
caged pie girl in striped blouse is student,
would never open her fish window
for man sitting, man reading, man
in orange shirt, like other girls,
two kneeling figures, little suckers,
yes like that, like little red suckers,
seven suckers, big suckers, candy sticks in a pan.
satan’s girls were not born of man but erupted from a suckers tree.
the Lord does not know these girls,
untitled cows, dancing
clowns with clown memories, bumping clowns,
clown and beast and clown with playmate,
not like you, girl with pink hat,
you, clown and puppy, clown angel and dog,
you at this untitled intersection,
still
starving
portrait of a woman.

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1. Rose (1979)
2. Cherries (1982)
3. Crown Tart (2015)
4. Untitled (Seated Nude Male) (1977)
5. Around the Cake (1962)
6. Cut Melon (1964)
7. Lunch (1967)
8. Watermelon Slice and Knife (1989)
9. Six Candied Apples (1989)
10. Six Desserts (1979)
11. Six Italian Desserts (1979)
12. Snack Bar (2017)
13. Dark Gumball Machine (2017)
14. Two Jolly Cones (2002)
15. Caged Pie (1962)
16. Untitled (Pie Slice) (1977)
17. Girl in Striped Blouse (1972-1975)
18. Student (1968)
19. Fish Window (1956)
20. Man Sitting – Back View (1964)
21. Man Reading (1963)
22. Man in Orange Shirt (1975)
23. Two Kneeling Figures (1966)
24. Little Suckers (1971/2014)
25. Little Red Suckers (1971/2014)
26. Seven Suckers (1970)
27. Big Suckers (1971)
28. Candy Sticks in a Pan (1980)
29. Suckers Tree (1962)
30. Untitled (Four Cows) (1991)
31. Dancing Clowns (2019)
32. Clown Memories (2017)
33. Bumping Clowns (2017)
34. Clown and Beast (2016)
35. Clown with Playmate (2019)
36. Girl with Pink Hat (1973)
37. Clown and Puppy (2015)
38. Clown Angel and Dog (2017)
39. Untitled (Intersection) (1977)
40. Portrait of a Woman (1955)

Riley O’Connell

 

Riley O’Connell has been awarded UC Berkeley’s Ina Coolbrith Memorial Poetry Prize, featured at Poetry Center San José events throughout the South Bay, and published in the Santa Clara Review (Vol. 104 Issue 2), for which she later served as Editor in Chief. Twenty-three and living in the Bay Area, she writes primarily about loss, dogs, love, and womanhood.

Listen to Riley reading Middle school youth group sex ed (1:53)

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