Cloud Gate, by Ona Gritz

Cloud Gate sculpture by Anish Kapoor (England, contemporary), photography by Bert Kaufmann from Roermond, Netherlands [CC BY 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)]

Cloud Gate
Millennium Park, Chicago
 
Silver archway, upturned u. Watch the specks of colour
as you walk toward it. One of them is you.
Seek the hue of your t-shirt, a splash of handbag.
 
There you are, high in a corner, near sky.
And though close now, you’re small as though viewed
through the narrow end of field glasses.
 
Come underneath. Crane your neck to see a face 
you’ve known since birth peering down, shining
and safe like a waking dream of your afterlife.
 
Stroll until nightfall. Bowed skyline lit and reflected,
the Bean glitters like Lake Michigan in the dark. Only here,
you can touch the cool surface with no risk of falling in.

Ona Gritz

Ona Gritz's poetry collection Geode was a finalist for the 2013 Main Street Rag Poetry Book Award. Her poems have appeared in Ploughshares, Catamaran Literary Reader, Bellevue Literary Review, Seneca Review, and elsewhere. Ona is also an essayist, memoirist and children's author.