2023 NaPM 18 April

[Quixilated]

Ego and Id

This is me.
Every time I look at it,
my mind says
“This is me,
us. We are like this.”

This is me.
I don’t know why exactly.
I’ve tried to explain it once or twice,
but I don’t know if they understood.

They are both me.
A self at war.
The girl is me, her weary struggle.
The cow is me, the stubborn stationary stance.
The broken rope, always taut between the two.

They are trapped there
inside that postcard
inside the original painting too
a petrified struggle.

With both sets of feet planted firmly,
they will neither of them get
where they want to go.

Looking at it is comforting,
like having a friend who understands:
This is me.




(“In the Pasture” 1883 by Julien Dupré.
I don’t know if I can figure out how to post a link to an image of it.)

edited a chunk out. Probably won’t put it back, but just waiting a bit. 

I first saw it in the museum
then bought the postcard 
from the gift shop.

The rest of my postcard collection 
rest in a box in the basement 
but this one, for years,
decades almost,
has been out in the open
taped to the fridge.