The subject, the artist and the buyer

(I met an Orang Asli (indigenous man) from the Malay peninsular. An artist, a painter. His people had lived there long before the Malays arrived from Sumatra. It inspired this piece.)

By the subject of the picture

What do I know of what you say.
I live my life from day to day.
The strangers come and slash and burn
I ache to complain — but must “wait my turn”.

Then comes this artist to paint my life,
But really I just want him to paint my wife.
I smile with respect
He picks up his brush

By the artist

The artists sees more, sees the torment and pain
Paints it out clearly again and again
Tells the world the bleak story
of histories gory;
of flashing curved knives
slicing homes without names;
of wrecked angular lives
through rectangular frames;

The world needs to know
And I know I can show.
My pictures are clear
And are deeply sincere

And you’d better believe what you’re seeing!!

By the potential buyer of the picture

Its nice there’s so much red.
It’ll go with the wall in the hall.
“What’s that you said?”
There’s a message and all?

O, Yes,
A message.

Well the faces are nice
The style is intriguing
Look at the brushwork
It’s all so appealing

You know what my dear,
It’s so avant-garde
We’ll give it a place —
Outside in – the yard.