Art History Lesson, by Julia Caroline Knowlton

Lunch on the Grass, by Edouard Manet (France) 1863.

Art History Lesson

One perfect, winter afternoon in the Louvre

I stood in front of Manet’s Le Déjeuner sur l’herbe
for almost an hour.  No one else was around.
Inside my mind, the snow falling outside. 

I stared & stared: nude woman seated closely 
with two clothed men. Their legs & feet intertwined.   
His black shoe not quite touching her ivory statue foot.
Same old illusion, I thought--ménage à trois.
Her direct gaze—flash & depth of brown eyes!   
A little ennui. Blue ribbon on straw hat. Spilled fruit 
on the grass. Prostitute or goddess? Well yes, that’s all of us.

​Julia Caroline Knowlton

Julia Caroline Knowlton holds a BA degree in English/French from Duke, MA & PhD degrees in French Literature from UNC-Chapel Hill, and an MFA in Creative Writing from Antioch University in Los Angeles. The author of a memoir (Body Story, 2004) and a poetry chapbook (The Café of Unintelligible Desire, 2018), she is Professor of French at Agnes Scott College in Atlanta.  Her accomplishments include an Academy of American Poets College Prize, a Pushcart Prize Nomination, and a fellowship at Antioch. Her poetry has been published in many journals, including Roanoke Review and Raw Art Review. She is currently focused on polishing and publishing her first full-length book of poems.