The Green Graffitist

His first graffito, "Rape"
(all will be given names)
a modest scene
beneath a railway arch:
reclining nude
morphed to rural idyll.
Mammary, the hills
vaginal lake
and thrusting motor way.
Crude. Unambiguous.

The last spray not yet dry,
a woman comes from nowhere
whispers in his ear -
before the darkness
swallows her once more.

He takes a brush -
a few sharp hairs -
and adds a line, a shape
a woman being raped
though so diminutive
that only he
will ever know
of her existence.
Unnoticed rape!

A quick developer
his works gain power
with every outing.
Soon she becomes
the factor
common to each one
grows strong
in features
personality
and temperament.

So now
he always adds
the figures.
Always two.
A man and woman.
Always small
too small to register
to careless eyes:
his signature.

Until
one night
he cracks it.
"Seascape"
will become
his first
graffito
time
will raise
to level uno:
call iconic.
Dolphins
caught in mats
of ocean garbage:
fishnets
plastic lines -
all human detritus.
And even as he sprays
the final empty space
she comes -
so briefly -
from the darkness
whispers in his ear
then lets the night
devour her
once again.

He adds his signature:
this time
a crouching man
trussed and bound
a woman towers
over him.
And both
as always
are too small to see
from way below
where people pass.

"Rain Forest
Torched" comes next
and once again
the final touch
and there she is.
The whisper in his ear
and back into the night.
But now the change.
This time he follows her.
This time
he too, will disappear
into the night.

Next day
they find him
sagging at the knees
supported by a post,
just a tar
and charcoal likeness
of himself.
Half corpse
half tree
black branches
sprouting out of him.

His face
is black
quite featureless.