Old Master
Goya was an octopus that smelt of funerals on Mondays.
Sundays, the scent of getting ready.
Goya liked to swim with sensory stimulus.
He would splash about his palette.
Goya made two circles on a first encounter.
His grip was firm, a low-pressure suction.
Goya had other minds that didn’t mind much.
Who cares that no one cared?
Goya painted inside a fish tank in A Coruña.
His muse was delirium in the aquarium.
Goya painted the inside of a fish tank in A Coruña.
They say it looked like him.
Goya was the insides of a fish tank in A Coruña.
The world is full of deniers.
Paul Stephenson’s debut collection Hard Drive was published by Carcanet in 2023. It was shortlisted for the Lambda Literary Award and the Polari Book Prize. He has three pamphlets including Selfie with Waterlilies (Paper Swans Press, 2017).