every artist on earth dreams they could've done on canvas what Manning did in thin air.
(but who seeks glamour?)
every artist now reconsidering cowardice
a measuring stick for days remaining, not for confidence.
cowardice was shots taken for cash, works down the line of coal locomotives.
quantitive- moving fast and far
from the source of the ethical desire.
the desire was assumed to be adolescent. it was supposed to fade-
a boulder on the back dissolving with years
the artists line up to stomp their feet- to seethe- to be hungry-
to watch her kick up dirt across the tracks
she unnameable, she unknown, she seeming without compromise
unwilling to breathe common sense or censored decency