They had their biggest and final fight in the middle of the Lucian Freud exhibit, a collection of works that could awaken the starkest fears of alienation. Maggie had been wondrously transported by the visceral nature of Freud’s putrescent nudes, actually weeping to be so shattered. Even as Jasper was utterly repulsed by the portraits that surrounded them, nearly spitting at what he found ugly. She hated that he couldn’t see the potent layers of beauty beneath the torpid, decaying flesh. And he hated her hypocrite’s pretentiousness in the rude face of her own disgust whenever he undressed for her.

—Published previously in Angela Carole Brown’s collection of 100-word stories, Aleatory on the Radio (Haiku House, 2019); appears here with author’s permission.

Publisher’s Notes:

1. For details about British artist Lucian Freud (1922-2011) and his nude portraits, see Wallace Ludel’s article at Artsy.net (17 April 2019):
Lucian Freud’s Obsession with Skin Inspired Powerful Nude Portraits.

2. To view paintings and etchings by the artist from the 1930s through the first decade of this century, see: Lucian Freud Archive.

Angela Carole Brown

Recipient of the 2018 North Street Book Prize in Literary Fiction for her novel Trading Fours, and the SoulWord Magazine Poetry Prize for her single poem “Cotton Candy,” writer-vocalist-artist Angela Carole Brown has published seven books in the genres of fiction, poetry, and memoir, and has produced eight music recordings in the genres of jazz and folk.

Shorter works have appeared in Flapper Press Poetry Café; MacQueen’s Quinterly; Brilliant Corners: A Journal of Jazz and Literature; Echoes Media; and SoulWord Magazine; and are forthcoming in the poetry anthology In the Black / In the Red (Helicon Nine Editions). In 2021, Angela was honored with an entire concert entitled Short Stories by the Los Angeles-based, 60-voiced Metropolitan Master Chorale created around several 100-word stories from her collection Aleatory on the Radio.

At the end of 2020, Angela produced a videobook from her children’s story The Richest Girl in the World, which she also illustrated and narrated, and which is now the recipient of several film festival awards in Multimedia. She is featured in the documentary film The Goddess Project.

Author’s website: www.angelacarolebrown.com

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Withheld, a poem by Angela Carole Brown in MacQueen’s Quinterly (Issue 14, August 2022)

⚡ The Little Death (Un Poème Concret), at the author’s website