PAINTING THE KING'S MISTRESS

Nancy Baxter

How painting on something elliptical
as a rag doll resists another dimension.
As the order of her face washes down her
neck. Funneled words crowd silent as eyes.
Whose distortion sold to the next collector,
who watches over and over her. Face flatter
than an oil painting. The king's mistress
here ( )produced for his subjects, her cloth-
ing removed. To show her limb and seam.