Toti O’Brien

Body of Evidence

At the top—    Narrow slit.
                        Opening a secret trap door.
                        Tip of finger incognito brushes the clitoris.
                        Contact made. Close.
A bit lower—  Narrow slit. Oblong. Horizontal.
                        It’s a comic strip, and yet serious. Undramatic
                        yet sternly, starkly, routinely grave
                        like the left-handed sound of a baby grand.
                        Black and white, like the baby grand as seen, guessed
                        through uncurtained windows
                        the entire floor brightly lit
by a cold glare of brass chandeliers.
Lower left—   Shirt longish, untucked
                        charcoal dye softer, smoother
                        than the ebony shine of the piano.
                        Dark pants, hair a sable shade
                        caressing the back of the skull
                        outlining the curve of the nape.
                        The man deepens into the page
                        tiptoeing sadly, in defeat
                        bound to espouse… oblivion, perhaps?
                        We don’t know. He is nothing
                        but an annotation penciled on the side.
                        A reverse illumination.
Center page— The main text.
                        Define length of lines, number of paragraphs.
                        Please, describe the text.

                        Erased, as well as the signature.

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Toti O’Brien is the Italian accordionist with the Irish last name. Born in Rome, living in Los Angeles, she is an artist, musician and dancer. She is also the author of Other Maidens (BlazeVOX, 2020), and An Alphabet of Birds (Moonrise Press, 2020).