Praxiteles ‘Hermes With the Baby Dionysus’ at the Chicago Museum, Robert Joe Stout

Mark Terry, detail, “Faith of our Fathers,” 72 x 14 x 8, mixed media

 

Praxiteles ‘Hermes With the Baby Dionysus’
at the Chicago Museum

 

Their eyes

Are merely solid now,
their flowing power
stalled.
          Snow
on Chicago’s ledges
tighten art
into knowledge
of a softened smudge,
                                     line
that loses its beginning,
circle
that is light reflected,
                                       thinning,
gone.

The ancient islands

slide
beneath our tread
as we tell
stories, talk
about the Greek uptown who sold
us sandwiches,
                      walk
new aisles between the gold
and marble:
venal pigeons
out to strut
and warble,
                     Philistines
of sun.

_________________
Robert Joe Stout

 

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