Two women have met here,
their naked shoulders sloping
toward contrived, dogmatic gowns.
All available light is absorbed
into the women.
Their faces glow like hope,
beautiful and closed.
In the ripe dark,
they pose like shocked birds
and touch no one.
Flanking them, two
untutored sketches–
doubles,
dopplegangers,
ghosts–
split, shimmer, fade-
unstable negatives
that reverse and disappear.