Art: “Mon Petit Rat”, mixed media, 2024

This painting is inspired by my own poem “Marionette Sonnet,” which reads as follows:

Elegantly flowing, I pull her threads, Sedately dancing to a minuet.
An empty smile, plastered eyes on her head,
Nine strings hidden above her silhouette.

A twisted ballet of obedience, I silence her cries with a symphony, Veiled sobs, the orchestra’s final cadence.
My unabated will, her destiny.

Had she felt the strings woven in her mind,
My concoctions of prudency with love, Seeking security, but she was blind To precise manipulation above.

Dance, my darling, on the stage we unite,
Your strings in my grasp, gaslight will ignite.