SOCIAL RADIANT
Alex Katz / Dara Friedman

Juan and Choichun, Choichun and Juan.
Front and back deceptively at ease.
Hair gesturing ever so lightly in her
While it became a massive fragment of
Aluminum claiming its own suspended weight and patina
His is almost precisely replicated on both sides.

How do you,
Harsh, look so calmly behind Nicole’s
Penetrating gaze into thin air?
Dominating browns harmonize
Fresh tones like we see it
In some unfathomable landscapes of Dutch masters.

Elizabeth, too, desires her own double
Though she resolutely refuses
To leave the reduction of her thoughts
For some exciting news
Left on her telephone machine.

Can we beg Ada to smile again for the camera?
Who is this faithful admirer?
Me, you, whoever
Capture the smile of the century.
I am not jealous. Are you?

Did I ever tell you that Vivien’s smile?
Has a few times caused
Traffic jams in midtown Manhattan?
It only takes the first one to notice it
Before others claim their own attention.

The truck driver was particularly struck
By Ariel’s beauty. He, too, has
Stopped listening to his wife
On the cell phone.
It’s not yet time to go home yet.

It’s a pleasure
To see more of Ada.
Ada standing
Ada smiling
Ada in grey and black
Ada in her black winter coat
Hands in pockets
Stepping forth onto a curb
Perhaps quite content

After seeing Nabil and Nessia
Elegant structure of faces
Demanding independent angles to
Unfold the meanings of
Profiles and three and quarter
As if Giotto’s “The Betrayal of Christ”
Was painted for that same reason.

Hello Mary,
It’s nice to see you twice today.
I am happy that you are doing
As splendidly as Duffy and Lucy
Who have been together for quite some time?
There is no friction here.

Even when it shifts from color to black and white
“I want to be captured alive.”
Sara and Read,
Stop apologizing! “Okay, I am gay.”
And I have an uncle who is gay.
Did you call Mark and Sunrise?
To invite them to go dancing
With Vincent and Vivien?

How dizzy it would make me
Not just the dance but also the music
With relentless shifting from major to
Minor keys permitting a kind of
Casual eroticism I have seen before.
Are you here with me?
Alluring prose, uncanny rhythm
That soothes my anxiety.

Smaranda and Gabriel
Joseph and Cameron
Tender and ecstatic like a dream.
Paula and Michael
Deirdre and Stephen
Ciera and Kelsey, and few other couples
Who are all here with us?
Hello Sandy,
My wife and I are ready to socialize.