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2024 Academy of American Poets Prize

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Mona Lisa Ode

by Yejun Chun

 

 

I love you because you remind me of the Mona Lisa if the Mona Lisa was actually pretty and not just pretty to look at, or pretty trendy to look at, or culturally cool to know about. You once said to me that you think seeing the Mona Lisa is overrated because you spend a ton of well-saved money to fly all the way to Paris and the Louvre, only to see the forehead of the Mona Lisa along with the back of the heads of every other woman in the room. I disagreed because the Mona Lisa itself isn’t overrated and some things are worth doing and writing about, even if it sounds ridiculous, like describing how you managed to paint me so beautifully and how you are still painting as I paint you, with time stretching between us, moving slowly and fast simultaneously. But I try to do so because the polaroid picture of your portrait, which fits into my left breast pocket, always near my heart, is more worth than all the other portraits in the Louve which includes the Mona Lisa. Their smiles don’t know joy when placed next to yours.

 





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