MATTHEW K. JOHNSON

DILUVIAN ART HISTORY

 
The rain sheets like brush strokes

From an impressionist’s hand

Dim outlines…confluence of chaos…

The play of light on water and bodies…

Puddles of oily acrylic on almost clawing nakedness…

Time is the only separation

Between what this artist paints across the cracks in your face

And the tears I added later;

Me the petulant vandal

Fingers stained, blood red

From your slain speculation,

Submerged by the question

“But how does it make you feel?”

Among a thousand grays

And a heart full to breaking

And a newborn ocean

We both hope would swallow us,

This laying-on of fevered hands

Becomes the world as work of art.

Matthew K. Johnson is a Departmental Fellow in Playwriting at the Tisch School of the Arts at NYU.  His plays have been read and produced by Beyond the Wall Productions, The Generic Theatre Company, The George Washington University, The First Look Theatre Company, and off-Broadway at the Abingdon Theater.  He is the Literary Manager and Artistic Director of The Intravenous Theatre.