Portrait
I painted a noble unclad man,
Full body, standing in the corner
Of a room based on the memory of a room
I had once stayed in at a hotel in Naples.
The details of the room are no doubt
Inaccurate, but the naked man himself
Has never seen the room and so,
If he dislikes it, it cannot be
For that reason. Perhaps it is something
Intrinsic to the man. I tried, poor artist
That I am, to make him seem
Independent, roguish, urbane,
A man who might be up at two a.m.
Playing cards and drinking while his wife
Pursues a more dependable man. It is
My best work, success or not.
So, imagine my sadness when this morning
I looked in on the painting and found
The room empty. The room remained
Just as I had painted it, but where
The man had been, there was more room,
A continuance of what had been
Around the man. How the room
Or the man could have imagined what
I might have in mind for the room,
Without the man, I do not know.
Despite my sense of loss, I have been out
All day with a hastily painted set
Of pants and a shirt, thinking a naked man,
Even painted by someone of questionable skills,
Would cause some commotion in public.
I listen for moral outrage, look
For others extemporaneously trying to paint
Pants and shirts, watch for children
Pointing and throwing stones. If nothing
Develops, I will canvass the galleries,
Check to see if he has taken refuge
In another painting, hides in an advertisement.
I suspect by now the why of his leaving the painting
Is as insufficiently reasonable for him as I
Might think it would be, if I knew his cause.
Could it be the room? In a lull between
Searches I will go back to the room,
Strip myself bare, climb into the painting,
And see the room as I condemned the man
To see it, gather the criticality of the perspective,
Perhaps make myself at home for a while.
While I am there, I will leave the painted
Pants and shirt on the easel, in case
He comes back. I will paint cards
And whiskey, and perhaps a wife
Trawling the street below for a more
Dependable man. We could both,
The naked man and I,
Learn to enjoy the room, and I
Would scribble one drunken card game victory
After another, at the last winning even his
Handsomely painted pants, his picture-perfect shirt.
