i would rather look at you than all the portraits in the world//for Katie
after Frank O’Hara
i have seen a hundred portraits and i will see a hundred more before the earth turns over and it won’t matter. none of them will last as long as your smile after the first sip of coffee in the morning—your eyes curling themselves closed in delight and the tip of your freckled nose wrinkles like the soft fold of my favorite shirt and you hum that little e flat to yourself as if everything has fallen into place—
no painter could catch the slant of sunshine
between you and me and the warm, wordless silence
we have always shared.
Georgia Riordan (she/they) is an author and writing professor. Though primarily a poet, their work also explores the forms of flash, essay, and short fiction and the genres and cross-genres of horror, creative nonfiction, and speculative fiction. You can find all their previous publications on their website: georgiariordan.com.