art institute of chicago

Sitting listening to A Prairie Home Companion on the radio and starting a paper on Gabon. I decided to take a break today and go into Chicago for a few hours - it was startlingly warm - and spend a little time at the Art Institute. I bought some lovely postcards for my wall, and a new olive green pen, and got some shots of my favorite Chicago architecture. The picture of the dog book is a coffee table volume I discovered in the Art Institute modern gift shop, with the most amazing and unique dog portraits - so fun.

I mentioned the wonderful poetry of Joanne Diaz a few posts ago but didn't have a book with me, so here is a great one.

Love Poem

I was the warmth that lifted

from your pilled sheets, the glow

of Sebastian in the picture book

of saints, the moon gliding

through the window beside your bed.

I was the clock in your kitchen

waiting to catch you in my gears.

In the TV, I was the blue tube

that saw your sadness run as silt

down a mountain. I was the rush

in the vein of every oak leaf

that crowded your window.

I was the drift of you before your edges

twisted into a man. The swing

of your loose pant cuff. The joint

in the threshold; the rusted cart

behind the house. You sensed

a visitor, but how can I say

that I was the one who curled

the wallpaper and held the model

airplane in its place? That it was I

late at night, running in the current

of your clock radio, searching

the seashell of your ear?