Poem: cold blood
Cold blood in icy veins
Drink the wine that makes you mine
make us whole again
paired with a portion of a work by South African artist Lionel Smit.
It was shown at a solo exhibition titled Manipulated Image, which opened on November 14 2019 at the Everard Read gallery in Johannesburg. The series explored the intersection of traditional portraiture & digital manipulation, using "glitched" or layered silkscreen techniques to repeat & fragment the human face. Smit is celebrated for his iconic portrayals of Cape Malay subjects. In this series, he moved away from pure oil painting to incorporate the imagery seen here, where the features are echoed & shifted to reflect how technology influences our perception of identity. Artist's intent does not mirror the theme of the poem.
Artwork for contemplation only; a low-res copy of the original, unsuitable for commercial use, ©owner
Words & image ©ilinkcs (2026/01)
she looked at me
imperturbably
the warmth of a 1000 nights
three years
dissipated
her addiction our final ally
for this one last time
I reached for the bottle
for the mask of warmth
reminder of what we were
for tonight, only tonight
ALT=deets
#poetry #poem #haiku #haiga
#addiction #indifference