JOHN SINGER SARGENT'S PORTRAITS
Birthday January 12

Taking the underground
by subway to the museum
waiting to view Sargent's portraits
as an adolescent
watching with my binoculars
his watercolors
dabble in splendor
as if dreams of great art
create a lucid light
opening the Jamesian door
of my imagination
in panels along the hall
helping ease my own solitude
from my downcast eyes
along the fine arts wall
brushing away a fainting time
of first family aristocrats
in Venice or Boston
flirting with the scholarly critics
with the gall of an artistic life.