FAMILIAR TENSE /
MARY CASSATT AND
EDGAR DEGAS
no diaries
or any other lettersonly this
when Mary's Belgian griffon diedthe painter
wroteasking friendsto find her a new dog
(clip)she was thirty-threeautumn in Paris
and send it to her by parcel postshe desires
a young doga very young one that will love her
two artistshe paints heragain and again
(dailies)yet restraintshe glazes his oils
he adds highlights to herscareful not to nudge
with his elbowloathe to let flesh spoil luster
the new pup in her armsshe leans forward
(pull back)a shadow unionhe feels the heat
of her breathlike the autumn we metlet's
riskshe murmurs
don'the cautions
I'm just an old man who likes horses as you like dogs
Mary Cassatt strokes the dog's muzzle(mask)
its silken warmthwhen we metshe says
thenI began to live Degas leans back
in the bentwood chair closes his eyestais toi
he says be still
FAMILIAR TENSE, Susan Terris (Marsh Hawk Press, 2019)
Marsh Hawk Review, 2016, and Take Two:Film Studies, 2017
ORYX DREAM
On the savannah, not Rilke’s unicorn or Jarrell’s
eland, but you, Oryx. In the fringed grass of
the little rains, you stalk with sheen and grace.
When you bend low to browse, I mount, ride
bareback, clutching the twisted spires of your horns
as you bolt away. But you must never climb
the stairs to my house. Never expect a place
laid out at our table. Nor should you
appear one-horned to breech the gate of
my hermit’s retreat. Instead, as I grip your
smoky flanks with my legs, lead me deep, then deeper into the wet, wild caldera of time.
Familiar Tense (Marsh Hawk Press) 2019.
Also special thanks to Arts & Letters where this first appeared.