
Could she be a victim, the duchess or my vixen?
Poem by: ADRIAN ERNESTO CEPEDA
So many faces, traces of others
come flashing at this instance;
the way she stares like a portrait
keeps me hanging with her poignant fingers;
this stranger caressing dares of silence
on her own cheek she ponders, fully robed—
I can feel her eyes undress me;
deciding if she will be my lover,
another mother, or distant sister—
this stranger keeps me wondering
will she keep changing make-up,
blinking furious faces,
or will she disguise her excitement
always shading me from her favorite cover,
never knowing which one will leap?
Watching how this stranger waits there,
will I be her artist and love the way she sits for hours?
Should I embrace her colors,
brushing her with my own palettes
unmasking desires, slowly slithering
so many poses, pensively glowing barely deep?
Could she be a victim, the duchess or my vixen?
From this distance, so many faces,
traces of others come flashing—
at this instance, she hides too still for me to keep.
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Adrian Ernesto Cepeda was born in Detroit, Michigan. After graduating from the University of Texas at San Antonio, Adrian spent years following The Road Not Taken, living the writer’s life immortalized by Robert Frost. He is now enrolled in the MFA Graduate program at Antioch University and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and their lovably spoiled cat Woody Gold.