Instructions for Sitter
[On phone] Hello there – just wanted to say, have a good lunch before you arrive. I think it’s gonna be a long session…
…
[In studio] Ah, hi! Come on in, come on in. Yeah, sit down… Comfortable? Okay, that’s right, shift your bum right back in the chair – and, erm, lean your torso forward, yeah, with your elbows on your thighs? And clasp your hands together – like you might be praying? Yeah, okay, maybe not…
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Nah, don’t look at me! Why don’t you try, erm, staring into space – say, peering into the void where god and his ten thousand shiny-winged angels abide? No? No. Okay, I know, pretend you’re taking a crap, ha ha. That look of abstract concentration…
…
Yep, let’s take a comfort break, good, good. We’re doing just fine…
…
So, erm, can you find that place again? It was – amazing, awesome… You, ah, caught something of the stuff that’s roiling around inside my head… I dunno… you seemed like… some desolate raging creature – like some kinda lion god – and the spirit flaming out of you like a holy mane…
Nah, forget it – thanks for coming over…
Lesley Saunders
‘Terry Willson often chose difficult emotional subject matter. What became of him in his later years remains a mystery: he disappeared without a trace, leaving his studio just as it was.’
Lesley Saunders is an award-winning poet who occasionally (and hesitatingly) tries her hand at prose.
