It was I think a small town in Ohio
I taped to the wall above my office desk the postcard
Of Klimt’s painting called The Park
An example of cliché so profuse it touched my heart
Consoling me each time I turned my glance to its
Storm of tiny moth-sized leaves shimmering over all but the bottom
Ribbon of the canvas where the rows of the trunks individuate
The mass of the pulsing foliage above
A figure in a kimono or a robe so lush it too seems foliate
Stands apart from two other figures similarly dressed
But (the two) huddled closely together & moving off the sheer
Right edge of the canvas
& the solitary figure remains oddly hesitant & indistinct
& pensive although
Perhaps she is simply realizing that she does not wish to go
Where all of the others wish to go
“The Park” originally appeared in The Paris Review (1998). Used
with permission of the poet.