Little Blue Devil by Neil Ellman

Little Blue Devil

 

(after the painting by Paul Klee)

 

 

Born a devil

to confound the world

with irony

turn sins to virtues

and innocence to crimes

none can dissemble 

my methods or my words.

 

I could lie as well

as a flame deceives a moth

play my hand without a tell     

and like a mimic octopus

change colors in a shake

I came as the Messiah

but stayed the Antichrist.

 

If you wish to know me

or my name

and recognize my face     

among the milling crowd

never look me in the eye.

Neil Ellman is a poet from New Jersey.  He has published numerous poems, more than 1,000 of which are ekphrastic and written in response to works of modern art, in print and online journals, anthologies and chapbooks throughout the world.  He has been nominated twice for the Pushcart Prize and twice for Best of the Net.