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May 2022
Michael Gessner
mjcg3@aol.com / www.michaelgessner.com
Author's Note: Paloma is derived from Latin "palumbus" which means "dove," a symbol of peace. It is the name Picasso gave to his daughter.

Paloma sur fond rouge
Pablo Picasso - "Paloma sur fond rouge"
Looking for Picasso on eBay

My wife loves art and it is her birthday.
Because of this, I am looking for Picasso
on eBay.  Among the thousands
of lithographs signed & numbered
in pencil, I find "Paloma sur fond rouge,"
& bid the balance of my bank account.
 
Now I am in electronic Picassoland,
among the mixed media, how prolific
he was, and varied, and how unlike
the literary artist, bound to one voice,
denied their periods during a life,
confined so often to a single genre. 
 
But this does not matter to my wife.
She will frame this tortured thing
I have ordered, praising Picasso,
his artistic gluttony, his infant self,
how he left his true believers, the women,
a man after his own heart.
Originally published in Surfaces, March Street Press, 2006
©2022 Michael Gessner
Editor's Note: If this poem(s) moves you please consider writing to the author (email address above) to say what it is about the poem you like. Writing to the author is what builds the community at Verse Virtual. It is very important. -JL
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