Discovering My Mother in a Painting by Mary Cassatt, by Mary Jo Balistreri

Woman in a Pearl Necklace in a Loge, by Mary Cassatt (USA) 1879.

Discovering My Mother in a Painting by Mary Cassatt

She catches me with her half-smile,
unconscious delight flowering over her. 
I finger the single strand around my neck,
eyes fixed on the woman with pearls—my pearls, my mother’s.

It may be the pastel colour lit by lamps of rosy hue
as she looks out from her balcony, or maybe the sheen 
of her strawberry-blonde hair curled back behind her ear
that mesmerizes and transports me 
to the theatres of my mother’s dancing career, 
the chandelier casting soft reflections, the rustle 
of anticipation in the upper tiers before lights dim.  

I remember her Irish skin—milk-white porcelain, blush
that tinted her cheeks. Any minute she might break
out in that hearty laugh, infectious to anyone around her.
Even in the wake of dying, light glints off her coral scarf
and nightgown like the leaps and pliés of her life.

I long for my mother, on loan from somewhere else,
who’s stopped to linger here for a spell 
in the Art Institute. Too soon she’ll have to leave again,
but here, where shadows are part of light, 
is where I stand.

Mary Jo Balistreri

Mary Jo has three full length books of poetry and one chapbook. She was a musician most of her life but due to the death of a grandchild and a consequent loss of her hearing, she turned to poetry. Mary Jo has always been interested in art and received her BA in art from the U. of Pennsylvania. Please visit her at maryjobalistreripoet.com. She lives in Wisconsin.