pierre bonnard at the the museum of modern art, nyc
		------------------------------------------------------------

		ten years ago nude in the bathtub
		in pittsburgh -- carnegie art
		overwrought
		could not leave
		could not see the forest
		for the tile, colorleaved -- nude in the bathtub nude
		in the bathtub nude in the
		bathtub

		now i kneel
		ostensibly to study
		the salmons the pinks and the many
		shades of rose including the john f. kennedy
		and the scarlet the mauve and the bluegold
		in the lower right-side corner -- i'm older

		the nude?  the same nude  -- mrs. bonnard
		stands chastely with not a stitch on not her head on
		a place mat of doggie curls up below over the floor
		karen this is the best painting in the museum
		karen matisses instead what do you karens really know

		now i kneel
		to study?  no -- to receive a panty raid benediction
		chromointrospection confirms:  crave color crave life
		crave women (big spike) crave water

		stormy is kokoschka swirly/funny is grosz
		on the nearby walls of course picasso is picasso
		heck -- the ever unfinished matisse ruggedly pleases
		the microsized panels of dali are the most
		persistent memory yet

		pierre bonnard the one and only at moma
		is my favorite

		i kneel no place before or after.  pierre bonnard
		and i glow.  saturated pigments nub/rub:
		denuding the elemental, sparkling the composite

		my life his wife: in and out of bathtub.


			Marek Lugowski
			6 March 1997
			Chicago, Illinois