Improv 19 (“What is Worth Knowing?” Bhatt)

“Van Gogh’s Ear”

has as many conspiracy theories
as the unicorns. Did he cut it off and place it
in his lover’s limp palm, then tie it closed with
a satin ribbon? Did he rip it off rather than
his hair in a frantic panic? Did he lose it
in a sword fight with that other painter who
rhymed almost with Penguin? Did he wrap it
in a cloth as a Christmas present for
the lady at the red-light district making her
faint from revolt? Did he release it
with a rusted razor because Emo wasn’t
in style quite yet and wrists weren’t the
proper place for mutilation/suicide?

Did Vincent lose his name to his place
of residency due to this morbid matter of
being mad?