Picasso
By
Tim Nolan
How can we believe he did it—
every day—for all those years?
We remember how the musicians
gathered for him—and the prostitutes
arranged themselves the way he wanted—
and even the helmeted monkeys
with their little toy car cerebella—
posed—and the fish on the plate—
remained after he ate the fish—
Bones—What do we do with this
life?—except announce: Joy.
Joy. Joy—from the lead—
to the oil—to the stretch of bright
canvas—stretched—to the end of it all.
every day—for all those years?
We remember how the musicians
gathered for him—and the prostitutes
arranged themselves the way he wanted—
and even the helmeted monkeys
with their little toy car cerebella—
posed—and the fish on the plate—
remained after he ate the fish—
Bones—What do we do with this
life?—except announce: Joy.
Joy. Joy—from the lead—
to the oil—to the stretch of bright
canvas—stretched—to the end of it all.
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Disclaimer
We do not accept unsolicited submissions. American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation (www.poetryfoundation.org), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Poem copyright ©2008 by Tim Nolan, whose most recent book of poetry is The Sound of It, New Rivers Press, 2008. Poem reprinted from Water~Stone Review, Vol. 11, Fall 2008, by permission of Tim Nolan and the publisher. Introduction copyright © 2024 by The Poetry Foundation.