from
"The Woman in an Imaginary Painting"
If she could speak
she would say
Do not make things
up. Stay true.
She would stay
true to the light
coming in
the window,
to the yellow
wall behind her,
to the sweet blush
of her bosom,
the line of her
symmetry. She
would say there
is no imagination
needed in a world
as lovely as this
is. Stay true. Do
not make things up.
from
"The Woman in an Imaginary Painting"
Sky out the window
as blue as if
a storm has blown through
and rinsed the air.
Her eyes are that blue.
The light is as dust
is when settling
into a corner.
The most observant
artist can't account
for everything, nor can
the poet. The woman
in the painting posed
in the naked brightness
of that moment,
which leaves us to ask
was there ever
any more than this?
from
"The Woman in an Imaginary Painting"
No one has spoken
of the smell of paint.
No one has spoken
of the smell of the painter
sweating as he worked.
No one has spoken
of the kitchen smells
lingering that morning
as he painted her.
No one needs to speak
of such things. They are
always implied.
from
"The Woman in an Imaginary Painting"
Perhaps you think a work of art
is like a god. That the soul's
something greater inhabits each.
That the woman in the painting
knows this, and this is why she bows
her head. Perhaps it is why we
stay here with this poem, waiting
some godliness of our own for
her, and some of hers, too, for us.
from
"The Woman in an Imaginary Painting"
And if I could touch
the woman in the painting
would she sing as if
she'd entered heaven?
Would she shudder as if
God had touched her? Would
God touch me that way too?
Tom Montag's books of
poetry include: Making Hay
& Other Poems; Middle Ground; The Big Book of Ben Zen; In This Place:
Selected Poems 1982-2013;
This Wrecked World; The Miles No One Wants; Imagination's Place; Love Poems;
and Seventy at Seventy.
Two new collections, The River
Will Tell You and Maybe
Holy: Six Old Monk Poems are forthcoming. His poem 'Lecturing My
Daughter in Her First Fall Rain' has been permanently incorporated into the
design of the Milwaukee Convention Center. He blogs at The Middlewesterner.
With David Graham he recently co-edited Local News: Poetry About Small Towns.
These poems are selections from Tom's on-going series "The Woman in an
Imaginary Painting." None of these poems has been previously published and
they are not being considered elsewhere.
Please note that all of the poems are untitled.
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