Why I Draw Only Naked Human Bodies – A Reply

You asked why this, but why not –
what else is there to trace but this.
If not in the outlines of Adams or Eves
or their shadowed remains, bloomed again—
what else to set in pencil lines but
Lear’s forked creature, both front and rear
or find again on paper, replicas of
you and me, or him and she
What else know us more than what we are
Dare I draw a shining star
if I’ve never looked it in the eye
or detail its surface with my bare hands?
No, not for carnal delight or narcissistic indulgence
do I owe this past time to.
Is there anything more humbling than to be reminded
by tracing muscles or shoulder blades
stroke after stroke of pencil shades
that this act of creation does nothing
to hold back time, nor does it
endow more than its mirrored corporeality
by promising chances of immortality...
But, I’ve never known anything
that I wanted to draw more
than the same thing Casper wished he owned:
A body, a soul-placer,
something through he could touch and hold.