Museum Afternoon

Museum Walk September 18 2009


The Metropolitan, on a holiday eve.

Teems with viewers of all ages.

I walk with no map through the different halls –

Moving easily from ancient Greece and Rome

To Medieval Europe, then to chairs by Breuer and van de Rohe.

As I watch the art, and then the people,

I see the subjects and the models strolling.

Adonis and Irene embrace beneath an ancient Roman sculpture.

Live madonnas stand before me at the entrance to the Renaissance.

As I contemplate a Hopper painting,

A man beside me could have sat upon that empty stool.

Among the modern art, a chic young matron,

Thin, with long blond hair tied back,

Wearing high platform shoes and a

Shiny orange duster over her short skirt,

Studies an Eames chair, as if she’d like to sit.

I came here to enjoy the art,

Not knowing that my fellow viewers might provide a bonus!



Reflections:

New York requires miles of walking. That impresses me each time I’m here. I’d quickly get more fit if I lived here. No lazy getting into a car to get to where I’m going. Instead, New York imposes long walks to bus or subway, followed by stairs and miles more underground. New Yorkers are a restless bunch – always on the move, going here and there. Since I’m not a New Yorker, after a day and an evening out, I have very sore feet and a back in spasm. Being in New York resembles in some ways visiting a place of great natural wonder. There’s the need to work hard to see what one wants to see, and also the plenitude of marvelous sights and unique experiences, one after the other – a whirl of new impressions to assimilate and enjoy. I love it, and also I’m longing to regain my cocoon at home, to once again become a homebody who meditates and enjoys quiet, peaceful moments.



New York Contrasts September 18 2009

New York swirls incessantly.

People, taxis, buses, cars -- noisy --  ever on the move;

The panorama’s always changing -- ,

Like falling leaves rustling, eddying, as they scud before a wind.

Then I enter the museum.

Guards stand stoic, distanced, static, faces wooden. .

People stand or sit before a work of art –

Still, Watching, Absorbing.

Silence reigns.

It’s like passing through a magic door into a different land.