Mosaicist
A piece of you,
a piece of me,
bits of glass
and plaster,
tiny stones
that were once
a heart,
alabaster eyes
for windows.
I am a patchwork
artist, collecting
pieces of souls
like stars
or gemstones,
patching
and perfecting,
and here we see
patterns
of identification,
unicorns
cobbled from discarded
virginities, satyrs and
nymphs piece from
petrified timber,
and here the artist
is clearly making
a statement
on the transient
nature of existence.
Note the teardrop eyes
the sullen glances,
the emphasis on age
and weariness.
One can only
imagine
what the artist
was thinking.
Here are bits and pieces
stolen from faces met
in shaded halls
and open forums,
chips of marble
from her piazza
porcelain pieces
of his sorrows
and ecstasies,
delicate touches
across a stranger’s
skin, knitting the
crumbled
masonry
of their losses
into a patchwork
of a person,
a harlequin
made from watching
and thieving,
a pickpocket artist
a pickpocket life,
told in tiny slabs
of other people’s sins.
Patrick Ocampo was born in Manila in the Philippines and raised in Toronto, Canada. He recieved his Master’s Degree in Behavioral Science at Cameron University, where he also pursued his lifelong interest in poetry and short story writing. His creative writing work at Cameron earned him his first major publication, Surface Tension, a collection of poetry and short stories published by Mongrel Empire Press. Patrick currently resides in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and teaches English Composition at Tulsa Community College.
