Poem: Seven Studies for a Self-Portrait (Study #6)

Study #6
after Andy Warhol

Why be a man when you can be a brand?
Be copies the machine clicks to the market
to compete against other copies for a niche.
Not Nietzsche, but Benjamin. My fancy
education. My immigrant genes. My coming
out or not coming out, and other agony stories.
What are they but printings on silkscreens,
recognizable by the cock or white shock of hair?
I’m waiting, like a dupe, in a photo booth,
thinking if I should pay for duplicates.

*

Comments

A.H. said…
This, is my favourite, in that it exposes Warhol (as he did himself without ever showing much) succintly.
3:39 AM
Jee Leong said…
Yes, but what a temptation the cultural moment presented.
8:27 AM
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