MASTERPIECE #2936

/// John, the artist, this task undertook:
EVOLUTION (in paint) OF THE BOOK.
Later on, on papyrus
tales of Raamses and Cyrus,
but, for this one, bare flesh is his “hook.”

/// When we buy we’re protected by laws.
Sellers must not hide obvious flaws.
With this couple, no sweat—
what they see’s what they get,
for they wear only jockstrap and gauze.

/// The man wears a g-string and cap.
The girl? See-through cloth drapes her lap.
Stones at neck, band in hair.
Nothing else does she wear.
While he works, she just stares at the chap.

// Don’t wear thongs if you’re modest or fat,
or fear “wedgies” and chafing like that.
Too tight hurts, and too loose
will expose your caboose.
You risk splinters from planks where you sat.

/// The girl’s charms, we can see, are quite ample.
(To be near her, men each other trample.)
He must carve stone in curves,
so the sculptor observes
in her most every kind of example.

/// In old Egypt, both risk a sun burn.
For the stone carver she seems to yearn.
Though the man’s hieroglyphic
may, when done, be terrific—
not the girl’s “overarching” concern.

/// On his scaffold she poses and waits
‘til his hammer and chis’ling abates.
Does she hope for her face
to be carved in that place?
Or just leaving it up to the fates?

/// She can’t tell if he’s straight, bi, or queer,
but she longs for him, that much is clear.
He is settled; she’s rootless.
Dating him would be fruitless,
but she’ll still ask him out for a beer.