Artwork © Eric N. Peterson

 

Drawing David

O truant Son of all affairs Italian
you’ll earn your extra credit double-quick.
Though cheating mars the school’s rapscallion,
I pick your chore of drawing David’s dick.

Renowned and praised, the sculpture stands in Florence,
his marble body strong and white and nude.
Because his jew’ls incite the Queen’s abhorrence,
you thought I’d spurn this work—I’m not a prude.

While sketching chiseled glory like a Titian
recalls to mind your boast to buck for fun,
perhaps my patron hints with this commission,
we’ll form a pact like Dave and Jonathan.

Unlike the stone, the pencil fades your beauty.
Unlike the lead, desires outlast in mem’ry.

 

André Le Mont Wilson (he/him) is a Black Queer poet and writer whose literary career began after his parents, both poets, died in 2012. He enjoys taking formal poetry, following all the rules for rhyme and meter, and then queer it by writing queer stories. His queer formal poetry has appeared in Rattle, The Society of Classical Poets Journal, and RFD Magazine, among others. He has won the 2022 Newfound Prose Prize for his chapbook, Hauntings, and the First Frost Award for his haiku.

Eric N. Peterson is from Atlanta, Ga. He’s been drawing cartoons all his life. He leans towards the absurd, imaginative, and the surreal, as that’s where all the flavor is.