​In This Room

                              after Matisse's Interior with goldfish

 
Artist: Henri Matisse
b. December 31, 1869, Le Cateau, Picardy, France; d.  November 3, 1954, Nice.
Title:  Interior With Goldfish
Date: 1914
Click here for more information

  
From a small place of drowning 
 anyone can be a goldfish

hushed and philosophical
 
whispered and tapered to glass
 
anyone can be sedated by absence
 
& take on the hour
that has arrived
where things have gone missing:
 
the bodies lounging in crooked blue chairs
the cups of coffee cooling on the gray bench
the sounds of children playing in a city of great revelation
the exit signs    
 
anyone can wrinkle
from being unable to render a sound
 
and knowing of the feelings
   of not knowing:
 
the fearless silhouettes of black
the buildings looming over moss
the dulling sky
 
and the strange woman
who fully understands

​anyone can become a goldfish                       
if they’re not careful