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My name is Dawn..

It's a crisp autumn afternoon outside "A Passage to Clear Gallery" ...(not far from the lake on the
west side of town) enter Emilio ...the wealthy gallery owner/ art curator... smoking thin brown
cigarettes..with eyes like jewels, shiny shoes and an oversized belt buckle...a charming man ..
he claims he loves me. .."you're a fantastic painter with great ambition!" he spouts. "I am most
over joyed to be bestowed the honor of handling your work, I think it's been over a month now
Dawn, well overdo your growing success!.." We officially inked the deal four days after my
opening last week.

What is in my mind is that in which I seek
the stranger of my find.

Like many others before him, Emilio claims he will "lead me to the water".... or maybe make
for me my misery I don't know...promising he will "push my product hard.".
My art I ask? But will he really?....like always, I trust the promise.

Sure, I'm an artist..and painting abstractions is all I really care to do...
He likes my unusual interpretations .....seeing me as dark and unhappy I suppose....
By the way..today he said he'll "make me famous!" Of course! Seems I've heard this before!

I grew up in theunderground scene, peddling my work in strange warehouses in the
central art district. On my own since 15.. after being kicked out of school... it's the dark I call
home. My brilliance as some might call it , shines brightest against an onyx background.

Enter Gina...Emilio's "x" still working in the gallery as his assistant...she talked to me
recently in private:
"Let me make this clear" she says in a nice but suspiciously pretentious way.."I will personally
see that you prosper my beloved Dawn..!"
"Don't trust him as much for he has other interests and intentions."
Gina doesnŐt know I am already his lover as well!....

Intruiged by the stylings of my craft, Gina seeks my inspirations..
"In a way the world really scares me, so I just paint to hide from the bitter realities
I think...I harbor much fear but in this fear I find love, love of pain and love of fear", I reiterate.

Says Gina..
"Dawn my dear...getting to know you is like getting to know myself..I feel like the shadow
of your style...I was a painter once did I tell you?"
I suspected a tinge of envy.

Two days and six minutes later....another private talk...
It didn't take Gina long to find out our little secret....acting as If she already knew...
"Yes I fell for him too....and the pain was just unbearable..I cared for him...
so I had to cut it off, you know...he's a real ass in that way so....goodbye the lie...he will hurt
you beyond belief....believe me..."

Listening to her vent some harsh words but in a cold way without much feeling, it felt strange,
even stranger in that she's still working for him!...such a lost and lonely soul she seems..
I can't help but think he might do the same to me...

Gina harks back...
"Yes, he hooked me on his poetry and rhetoric as well and left me in a daze. True
poetic injustice!"

"But getting back to your work Dawn...when I see your brushstrokes and paint piles..
I feel the sun the moons and all of heaven...you inspire
me as well....

"Like that latest piece"Cosmic Cobwebs and Lollipops" ItŐs obviously about Emilio
isn't it? like he's right here!

I ask Gina casually "So how are things between you two now anyway, if you don't mind me asking?"...

Gina says with great conviction...
"I just stay away from Emilio....as always..you know...in that way!"

Well it's 6 months later and heartlessly dumped I'm on my own again....not surprisingly
Gina and Emilio got back together...I'm out shopping my work to a new agent...you see...
he's saying he loves me too! "I'm feeling life again" he says.."but I don't express it..!"
Same old crap..and in my weakness...we end up dating within days...

So amazingly I'm back as I was..painting abstractions of things or the occasional album
cover for another local rock band...chasing dandelions I suppose.. like big bold circles ....
I continue to be a stranger of my find... and seek a passage to clear.