Issue 3 - December 2025 - Tanka prose 4
Sotheby's Surrealist Auction Sale
Blue, orange, yellow, red – Warhol's copy of The Scream. I could do that. Make a copy, steal his inspiration, expending no imagination. Was there a class at art school called Copy Campbells Cans and Make a Mint? The road to Hell is paved with good imitations.
Warhol's version has an auction estimate of £2 - £3 million. Mine, I expect, would do to line a budgie cage or two. I can see it now, a captive canary – they are easier to paint than budgies – with my copy of The Scream and melting pocket watches draped around the place. Collectors with fortunes bid on a print of a stolen idea. Sensing value in something mere mortals cannot see.
The bidding dies, a new Lot is announced. A porter shows off an empty coat hanger.
“Lot 164,” the auctioneer intones – “The Emperor's New Clothes . . .”
as a child
I wondered if my blue
was the same as
other people saw
sometimes I still do
Simon Wilson, UK
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