In the Room of the Impressionists
                          Art Institute of Chicago
by Andrea Potos

Too tired to roam anymore through the maze
of galleries, I found the polished wood bench.
Before me, an arc of school children on the floor,
a French teacher gesturing with her hands, her voice
an impassioned plea for the great canvas of Caillebotte's
behind her: Paris Street, Rainy Day, 1877,
      the shining wet cobblestones and star-shaped intersection,
city dwellers chatting and strolling under their grey umbrellas.
I have long forgotten all my college French, I can't tell you what
she is saying, I am letting my eyelids close and hearing
the clip-clopping of horses, the carriages hurrying past,
raindrops drumming their music on the awning of the café



(Previously published in Mothershell)

 

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