Still Life

If bananas turn black
it means the air is tainted
with painter’s tears
because the fruit sat too long
while forms were composed.

If apples rot
and attract bees through their vinegar
it means the paint congealed
on a white palette
while shadows gathered on a slashed canvas.

And if oranges crack
and shed their peels to reveal
hollow hearts
it means the studio paints on its own
with dust and cobwebs
while the painter mixes colors in the garden
and sighs and waits
for a rainbow to fill the urn
under the lilac bush.