RENOIR AS SADE

It doesn’t bother me to get my

fancy tickled. Why should it?

I mean, that’s what it’s for!

Like the hour I spent lost in a

Boating Party captured by Renoir.

When it was over, I knew the splashed

red on the brim of Aline’s fascinator

was carmine leaked from a wound

carved into me by her secret kiss and

the soft strokes from his tuft of camel hair.

I laughed with Gustave about the peeling

hull and he just shrugged. Ephrussi judged

the crowd, and gushed… all those gleeful

voices, every sentence an exclamation,

and demand for understanding... you,

you... tasteless, bourgeois fool!

I held my breath.

Today, there is a Summer Tanager

at the window, such a fancy bird!

Such an exclamation of RED!

Now I think I’ll find a glass worthy

of this Pinot Noir, some cherries,

and a comfortable place to sit inside

myself a while.