Matisse Model

 

you and I   Henri we   like keeping the door

in sight   I'm drawn to what you draw

the door   the window

 

you look down on the Bay of Nice

without going down   the fish are gold

and in a jar   good to know the unwieldy world

is out there   good to tuck it in a box

 

personally I like keeping one hand

on the doorknob   one eye on you

behind the apples and asphodels

behind the silence   an empty violin case

 

you know you could leave

the deep the rich the warm

configured textures saturated

with the perfume of paints

 

if you wanted to but   you don't

so I'll go gladly and report back

tell you everything   slipping

from my robes   stretching out

 

on the tapestries   while in the corner

your wife's face flattens in sleep

along a table   you smell the salt

wind coming off me

 

your brush strokes slow

voluptuize me fur-first sliding

from my armchair toward you