Sunday, January 19, 2014

Interior


It is not a question
of making a deal and guessing
which door the prize lies behind;
it is a question of choosing
which door to open first, which path
to follow, which future to select,
the choice to be made in a split sliver
of time, and once decided, once the door
is opened and walked through,
the possibility of return is non-existent,
even if the door remains open, even if
backward steps can be taken.
Or it is a question of choosing
which room to clean first, which interior
to dust and sweep and mop and wash and
scour. Or it is a question of waiting until
a door is opened. Perhaps the questions are
the same.



Painting: Interior by Vilhelm Hammershoi (1899), National Gallery of Art, London.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...


it is not a question
but
a voice
it is not a door
but
a way

Martha Jane Orlando said...

Perhaps, the questions are the same . . .
Loved your imagery and the flow of your words, Glynn. Thanks for blessing us with your artistry!

Anonymous said...

Walking through the door is the same as cleaning that room? Yeah, sounds about right.

JML said...

"the possibility of return is non-existent"

it sounds like it might hurt. But it doesn't.

Sandra Heska King said...

Shall I follow the easy path--or the more challenging one?