Velvet by James Mirarchi

Motorcycle cop

has purple upholstered room in throat

where Jean Cocteau resides

smoking opium

Down below

in grey upholstered room of right lung

Oscar Wilde resides

Down further

in steel room rigged with emergency lights

studly protégé creates abstract painting

This place is motorcycle cop’s id.

Jean & Oscar catcall from above:

you’re too handsome to be talented

better suited for bed & Facebook.

Peeved

protégé turns into pretty cat

claws Jean & Oscar to death

before leaping out of

motorcycle cop’s mouth.

Brilliant painting in steel room

becomes alive

triggering flashing red lights

Its canvas rips out

both sides of motorcycle cop’s ribcage

inciting his peers to teasingly dub him:

“Picasso.”

Author bits: 

James Mirarchi grew up in Queens, New York. In addition to his poetry collections, "Venison" and "Dervish," he has written and directed short films, which have played at festivals. His poems have appeared in Crack the Spine Literary Magazine, Poydras Review, gobbet, Boyslut, Dead Snakes, Subliminal Interiors Magazine, and others.