Images want to be kissed and touched and heard; they want to trade places with the beholder; they want everything and nothing.
W.J.T. Mitchell

A scholar asks, What

Do Pictures Want?

———–says there’s a surplus

———–in the sign. If a color wants

———–to trade places with me,
——————how does it ask? The last painting

I saw was The Invisible World. Magritte
———–set a boulder between balcony doors

———–opening to a sea on this

———–side of the railing. He set a boulder
———–as gray as the storm’s gray on this
———–side of the railing. He set a boulder

———–with an opening on this

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Toni Holland’s work has appeared in Literary Matters, Potomac Review, Blue Unicorn, Fare Forward, Jelly Bucket, Tau, RipRap, Poetry International, Superpresent, and Solstice. She has held a Fulbright Fellowship.

 
Image: William Warby. Unsplash, 2023.