she was Mike when we were kids but his family were Muslim
                                & his name wasn't really Mike
                           but Mukdar his                           family emigrated from Iraq
                                   cuz his folks were well-off
                         his dad attached to the Iraq      i delegation to the UN         back
the days of Saddam
so, yeh, Mike grew his black hair          
down his *** dying the tips different colors ******* off his family             & especially his dad           who saw            his son openly         b becoming         a girl when                       we were like seventeen
                                                       ­           & he never went back home;
ducking & disappearing avoiding hit squads & vigilants out to get him at his father's request
a price on his head as Mike we moved                            together down to the East Village & he called himself
Nermeen & renounced Islam    
now that he's a chick                               it wasn't very hard            , gone &                        
                                  back to Switzerland          & I'm standing
in the middle                      of a mess o                    f studio still-lifes &
                                           spilled red paint
I only              have a career                        cuz Nermeen                       goes out &              meets people
              ohbbbbbbbbbbbbb w                                       ** knows t
              he story she
                       tells but that was years ago---her modelling career hasn't suffered
we've been tog ether so long what is male what is female
I need more red more blue & maybe
             a lot of pink to finish what                   I've started                            spilling brown over the canvas             in              skeins like runny diarrhea       pour                here goes
the buzzer sounds upstairs in the loft; UPS