Your Sweetness is More Cruel than your Hurt
2003, acrylic and gold leaf on canvas (28” x 42”)

It is often easier to accept cruelty than kindness when you cannot be with someone you desire. The poet finds it impossible to distance herself from her lover because of all his positive qualities.

Egg: The egg represents potential. She desires him, but cannot fully have him. Her desire for him is so great that she focuses on the potentiality of the relationship, rather than the present reality. In the story of Persephone, it is the seeds that keep her in the Underworld for half the year. It is the seduction of the seed, rather than that which is fully formed, that draws us in. The seduction of the promise of thingsto come is dark and sweet and draws us deeper into intimacy.

Face: Desire