Edward Ficklin (he/him), the maverick artist not afraid to say gay, is a self-taught painter, writer, publisher and sometimes technologist. He creates sensuous and erotically-tinged queer surrealist art, publishes queer-centered sci-fi comix, and pontificates regularly on a range of topics in his Queer Quantum Dispatch newsletter.
A show of orchids, part 3
A show of orchids
A diversion in four parts
Part 3: What else?
7 in x 5 in, watercolor on paper |
What else will a smiling bud do
but bloom in laughter?
What else will a flagpole do
but grip its wind-whipped flag?
If a ripe pomegranate on a branch
doesn’t open its ruby mouth to the birds,
what else will it do?
Moonlight seduces you.
Sunlight feeds you.
What more would you want them to do?
When a shadow sees the sun’s face, it bows.
When lovers catch a whiff of your fragrant shirt,
they tear off their own.
And the dead?
What else can they do but lie stone still?
Love, you strung my heart with gold.
What else can I do but sing?
—Rumi, Gold (translated by Haleh Liza Gafori)
5.5 in x 5.5 in, watercolor on paper |
The diversion concludes next week.
Until next time, flame on! 🔥
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Edward Ficklin
Edward Ficklin (he/him), the maverick artist not afraid to say gay, is a self-taught painter, writer, publisher and sometimes technologist. He creates sensuous and erotically-tinged queer surrealist art, publishes queer-centered sci-fi comix, and pontificates regularly on a range of topics in his Queer Quantum Dispatch newsletter.
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