monet at the vancouver art gallery

play with me now as
i vanish into VAG, avoid
the vertiginous bustle of vancouver
monet, le soleil, couchant

his silhouettes bathe in light
& air, dejeuner sans l’herbes
stay with me now, every hour
their appearance alters

landscape becomes silver stars
surface swirls from the Savoy Hotel window
clouds wrestle gesture to wisteria
mauve to whites

hang on the trellis
tendrils of the giardini
afloat on the thames
at the bathing resort with renoir

choppy river water &
zoom bloom luminous
gloom fixed on flickering faster
steam & grief smoke of war

weeping monet’s son
in verdun six hundred thousand dead
month long falling curtain of leaves
shells, dark agitated willows

acid yellow skies
subservience to illusion
the only heroic thing
is the sky