Free Thursday
Barry Spacks
Free Thursday
at the Art Museum
you stand so long before a painting
of four tipsy monks on a bridge in a gorge
that when
this homeless fellow comes close
to hit you up for some change you whisper
"How much?" "What?" "How much do you want?"
This stops
him. He tilts his head like a bird...
you're either nuts or a pervert...he starts
to slide away. Then stops. Whispers:
"How
much you got?" -- and you want to give him
everything: your three credit cards,
impeccable credit rating, job,
Volvo, laptop,
gift of gab.
In shame you slip him a dollar. He nods.
Outside the kids are climbing the statues;
outside it's
happening: play of the fountain:
wind snapping ten-foot banners: birds
cheeping in trees like cascading pennies.
The
2River View, 1_1 (Fall 1996)
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