A Portrait of Ana Maria by the Window (spring 2007)

You stand staring
out at the seaside

maybe your favorite seaside.

At the time,
his favorite view.


I wonder how long you posed there.
Smelling the heavy salted air,
the breeze and softness of transparent white curtains
Grazing your young arms.

Your skirt and blouse a lighter shade.
Your skin so radiant it brightens walls,
The tan of the landscape
and those walls, so dull.

And that being the case, it makes me wonder,
If all he painted later

the curves and glowing gold
deserts and hills,
were yours.

You’ve shifted the weight to your left foot,
Bending heavily on your right arm…


But could you have known that the book you wrote,
relying on your right hand
would cause him to paint a new portrait
chastising with left handed morals.

You must’ve known,
for he had always been
Forever fixated on that view in the window.
After all,
only one of you was staring at the sea.


((((*from class* this is based off a couple of Dali paintings, and the personal history of one of his first models (his sister)))))