Donald Morrill

We have to feature Donald Morrill's great piece "The Untoward" from Ascent, Dec. 2011. He's got a great touch, especially with his portrait of one woman--almost Sargent-like. You are immediately put into mind of the painting of the "Queen of Saba" by Edward Slocombe [1907] of J.W. Waterhouse's famous painting of "Cleopatra".

Here's an excerpt:

[...]

And the girl with bells strung around her waist—that first girl—

she’s come back from the Temple of Ishtar

in the guise of colliding dragonflies, the riffling of newspaper . . .

[...]