Art Models

Queens of the studio
we sought the other’s company
time within the confines
of our role to reflect
on limited life chances

Paid a pittance we posed
in perfect stillness
projections of abashed love
brushed into our lives
by twelve anxious teenagers

They painted our ordinary beauty
over again every day, beaten by
the pink plait which wound like
laughter down her strong back
carving fold and curve

Our granite lives outside
were hacked in sharp relief
to this academic canvas
where promises were outlined
to be smudged at a later sitting.