Weeping Woman

She rises from her bed, weary

to weep in morning light,

naked, her soul exposed

as for the butcher’s

display case. I want to ask

why she is weeping

but I don’t know the words.

This is one of the paintings that I saw at the Edvard Munch exhibit at the Tate Modern in London. Munch painted this scene numerous times, and several of the paintings were grouped together in the same room.

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Painting: Weeping Woman (1907) by Edvard Munch.

Meeting the Artist

I did not know you

Edvard Munch except

for the commonplace

of The Scream complete

with an inflatable doll

but I met you in this

former power plant

that belched electricity

to a city of millions.

I met you there

Edvard Munch

and I found a man

as preoccupied with age

and time as I am.

In London, I visited the Tate Modern, which had an exhibit entitled “Edvard Munch: The Modern Eye.”

Painting: Self-Portrait with Skeleton Arm by Edvard Munch (1895 lithograph)