Afternoon at the museum

He sits, stares at a single painting

in the afternoon, rather abstract,

neo-abstract, perhaps neo-realist

or post something, he doesn’t know

but it doesn’t matter, the painting

and its moment, the painting

in its moment is what matters

to him, speaks to him, he doesn’t

understand why but he’s beyond

understanding, beyond veneration,

having arrived at veneration,

the painting is an icon, he thinks,

the painting should be carried

properly by priests in cassocks

and belts of rope, priests

with long beards, as they carry

the icon flanked by acolytes

with candles down the steps

to Fifth Avenue and turn south. 

Painting: September, oil on canvas by Gerhard Richter (2005), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.