Apostrophe!

Apostrophe!
What's Wrong With Poetry?

You have a charming smile, for a piano...

"transposed upon a violin", argued Ciardi
in his Translator's Note to The Inferno

...Or, and here I double down,
a Cheshire chainsaw...

Could it be only a disguise?

After all, like elementary particles, you know HepCats
like us exist only as potential states
*

Van Gogh tried first to write
how he felt about his art 
before the words coagulated 
into mad greedy-colored brushstrokes
*
Even Vermeers
though there are theories
(and good ones have been engineered)
among graven images remain
something a Mystery
...

in truth
(rampant in unintended consequences)
 a simple web of lies
most likely would have been sufficient:

ruby at her demiurgic
Navel,
her oscillating hips
she hulas like a daddy long-legs
in anticipation of a fly.

And sometimes tempts my muse
*
...Or...toothy   z-z-zipper...