Harrowing

is a painting Keith Haring did in 1989. Much

Like Haring’s earlier works (such as Untitled (1981)

And Untitled (1990)), from a distance, it almost seems

Like a cereal box maze. A closer inspection shows otherwise.

Much like his other works is depicting the body.

His usual ‘cookie-cutter’ drawings of humans blend together

With the blues and whites and blacks. It feels as

If Haring is showing us inside his stomach with these

Bodies, the cells inside him. The painting ends so soon. The

Incompleteness of it drips and cries down the oh

So blank canvas reminding of Haring’s own medical issues

That would (1987) Dear Mr. Haring:

We have received the results of the . This

Is to inform you that the results of the tests are

Positive. This information, as with all of

Haring’s work is simple. Beautifully so, but it

Can’t go unsaid how radical Haring was at the time.

This makes sense, as he had his start in

Graffiti, where he would notably be arrested multiple

Times for ‘defacing’ blank subway ads. He wrote in his

Journal once,

“I’m not really scared of AIDs, not for myself.

I’m scared at having to watch more people

Die in front of me again and do you think

That when they scattered Keith Haring’s ashes

They thought it was a beautiful thing? That

When the crematory operators smithereened

Him they thought they were burning a

Beautiful piece of art? Do they remember that a

Graveyard is a gallery for gays? That when Haring’s

Choice of chalk as a medium in his life influences

How this piece is made.

Its ness is very purposeful as Haring was

Known for painting in as short as two hours ago

I checked the day he died; it was on a day I was

Writing this February 16th, 1990 was the last year

Haring was alive and was one of his last

Paintings which means that is important

And its place in my favourite Haring paintings in order

Are: Altarpiece (1990 is even before Nirvana’s

Nevermind released and before people

Knew 31 was such a young age and I am

Thinking about how scared I am that

Keith Haring’s (1958) corpse (1990) was scribbled

On by fascist machines; however, hopefully this means

That Reagan wept, tears dripping down his canvas,

Until he knew the plague will be gay

Like Keith Haring who could only be afraid that

If he finished the painting, then he would

Wilt and be listed by Limbaugh, so he left it as

It’s title, a mark that has infected upon generation

Of generation in the blood of queers who died at 31,

Because I am scared and Keith Haring’s 1989

Painting with acrylic Unfinished is a dead

Pixel in my vision and that means I can’t

Look away until

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Azalea Geist is a collector of words, an appreciator of bones, and the only member of her family to her knowledge to win a spelling bee with only one contestant.