about the author
Daniel M. Shapiro is a schoolteacher who lives in Pittsburgh. He is the author of The 44th-Worst Album Ever (NAP) and Teeth Underneath (FootHills Publishing). He is the
co-author of Interruptions (Pecan Grove Press), a collection of collaborations with Jessy Randall. His poems have appeared or are forthcoming in Chiron Review, Gargoyle, RHINO, Sentence, Barge Journal, and Forklift, Ohio. His poetry Web site is littlemyths-dms.blogspot.com.
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Thomas Kinkade Drops by Andy Warhol’s Grave, Bethel Park, Pa., 2/22/07
Daniel M. Shapiro
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Keep the car running, Kinkade tells his driver. He climbs the hill, reaches the marker, gropes for the soup can and paperweight in the TK-monogrammed satchel. Chicken & Stars? he hisses. That asshole was supposed to get Tomato. No respect. With meticulously gloved hands, he places can and weight—radiating with the Thomas Kinkade™ Painter of Light™ logo—atop the stone. You taught me about objects, he tells frozen ground before snapping a Polaroid, walking back down the hill. Soon he will return to the studio, clip the photo to canvas, make improvements, eager to excise above-ground pool from background. Referring to Revelation 6:8, he will add the pale horse ridden by Death, rein in the beast thanks to ferocious pastel illumination. God has instructed me how to make 15 minutes eternal, he will muse while dabbing on the final trademark.