The woman in gold
I’m not sure I’ll always recall The Woman In Gold—
Austrian artist Gustav Klimt’s celebrated oil painting—
that we three went to see at Neue Galerie
on New York City’s Upper East Side;
me, Jana, and her new boyfriend,
who I first met at lunch
in a quiet French restaurant
they chose for me to hear.
I am sure I’ll never forget
the iPhone shot I got—
Jana and Stephen beaming
by The Woman In Gold’s facsimile,
hanging near the restrooms downstairs.
Against Klint’s duplicated jewel tones
their radiant smiles meant far more to me
than the $135 million portrait upstairs,
where no photos were allowed of the Viennese
fin-de siècle famed arts patron and salon hostess,
Adele Block-Bauer. And perhaps someday I’ll show
my grandkids their parents grinning outrageously,
baby twinkles in eyes neither yet could see.