• Poetry

Browse all Journals & Periodicals

STUDY IN ORANGE AND WHITE.

Publisher	Modern Poetry Association
Publication	Poetry
Subject	Literature/writing
Format	Magazine/Journal
ISSN	0032-2032
Issues per Year	12
Volume	173
Issue	3
Published	1999-01-01

Role	Type	Name
Author	n/a	Billy Collins

   I knew that James Whistler was part of the Paris scene,
   but I was still surprised when I found the painting
   of his mother at the Musee d'Orsay
   among all the colored dots and mobile brushstrokes
   of the French Impressionists.

   And I was surprised to notice
   after a few minutes of benign staring,
   how that woman, stark in profile
   and fixed forever in her chair,
   began to resemble my own ancient mother
   who was now fixed forever in the stars, the air, the earth.

   You can understand why he titled the painting
   "Arrangement in Gray and Black"
   instead of...

[This journal article is 359 words long]