Self-Portraits after Frank Ocean

erasures

 

Nights

Everybody needs
in equal. Although

honest breath evaporated
my whole body. Became

handmade. Now I know
better. Now

I know
white. See through

money. Left
and right. Left a

new beginning, new
sun, knew

quaalude, see
some

Kumbaya shit,
changed

up. No more late
fuck up.

Broke
nirvana.

Sleep to
die.

Ready now
every night. Just

waiting
to feel.

 

Pink + White

Everyday
control: we being

pink +
white we just

nod slow, move
north

nod again, eyes
close. It’s

cold, this
ruined land. It’s

hurricane season
every day. It

could all
cannonball

the same
way. It could all

shoot
up, kneel into

something like
a birth, no kiss no

glory. No
telling. No

immortality.

 

White Ferrari

On eyes, in
mind. Clouds

in the road. Had
a good time. Sweet

familiar,
so

close. Body I
left and

forgot. Text-to-
speed, bump.

Slow speech now, lesser
care: still

honest?
Honest, we got so

familiar for my
part I. Stay

climbing. For my part I
tried. Good times

in this
taller sky. One too

many days
naked. Dimension of

tired walls. Fall.
Take what’s

smaller. Mind over
prison. (If you think

about it it’s
over) I’m sure

we’re so
okay here. We can

still
go dreaming. Maybe even

free,
eventually.

 

 

 

 

Amanda Leahy is an artist and current MFA student at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in Montpelier, Vermont.