A Super Star at home 1969 according to Diane Arbus

by Alan Catlin

Diane lied to Viva

she lied to all her unclothed
subjects

saying she would only shoot
their faces

That nothing would show

She always revealed everything

Naked from the waist up,
Viva looks as if she is nodding

deeply drugged
maybe just this side of overdosed

or dying

eyes rolled all the way up into her head
under half-closed lids

When she rises
from where she is lying
during the shoot,

this late portrait
could have been
retitled:

Revenant Rising