On Mondays

On Mondays when the museums are closed

and a handful of guards

look the other way

or read their newspapers

all of the figures

step out of golden frames

to stroll the quiet halls

or visit among old friends.

Picasso's twisted ladies

rearrange themselves

to trade secrets

with the languid odalisques of Matisse

while sturdy Rembrandt men

shake the dust

from their velvet tams

and talk shop.

Voluptuous Renoir women

take their rosy children by the hand

to the water fountains

where they gossip

while eating Cezanne's luscious red apples.

Even Van Gogh

in his tattered yellow straw hat

seems almost happy

on Mondays when the museums are closed.

by Marilyn Donnelly

from Coda. © Autumn House Press, 2010.

Courtesy of The Writer's Almanac