slide it down my cheekbone and under my chin, pausing, as if to consider

once da vinci, after days of absence,

wandered into the dining hall of the monastery of santa maria dell grazie,

crossed his arms and looked up at jesus looking down,

in the evening light he lifted his brush, slid an arc of tempera over a slice of a lemon

stepped back and walked away

your eyes move in an arc over my face as I touch my fingertips to my cheek,

raising them to the light, striations of yellow shimmer

Kate LaDew is a graduate from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro with a BA in Studio Art. She resides in Graham, NC with her cats Charlie Chaplin and Janis Joplin.