Luncheon on the Grass
As usual, the pupil poses—this moment
Within the garden, where a pair befriends
The jungle, as it becomes
The dandies who live
As she—this nude woman ever
Near his boot. Look—lunch can be
Such an immediate hour, wherein
One remembers her father, once when
He and she went
To eat in midst of some noon
Hunger. Balance the palace
Somewhere—who loves? No, not
Degas, but rather this
Dancer upon the grass, tilted
By loveless motion, and held
More than some century
Ago—tryst by tryst, her hour
That moves the shades
Of elsewhere, as I. Thirst?
What else exists.
Luncheon On The Grass II
Somewhere lives this moving
Rain. Her Childhood—
The most malleable
Memory, is never stated
But reframed. She leans, and washes
Her sort of landscape. Arriving
After every green, she
Breathes, no background
Carries color, defines
Her fractured, momentary
Body. Amid, sensation ignites
Her humid glow, back
When she was half
Asleep, dreaming impassible
Dream. Who invites? She.
* * *
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More from Jessica Schneider: As Is: Reviewing Jim Jarmusch’s “Paterson” (2016), Portrait of Pathos: Reviewing Ethan Hawke’s “Blaze” (2018), Finding Judee: Reviewing “Lost Angel – The Genius of Judee Sill” (2024)