In Magritte I Can Find No Strawberries, by Anne Higgins

Threatening Weather, by Rene Magritte (Belgium), 1929.

In Magritte I Can Find No Strawberries
​​
In Magritte I can find no strawberries,
though in Belgium, in June, he must have had
them, luscious, feeding them to Georgette in the afternoon.
Perhaps they sat upon the step
or watched the summer out the window.
Perhaps he saw her face unveiled as no other,
perhaps he told her you are mine
as they fingered the strawberries on plates in their laps,
as they sat by the sea water glistening.
He did not yet see fractures in the sunlight.
He did not yet see blood in the sugar.
He did not yet see the veiled face of the other,
or eggs in a cage at the feast,
or the hat, the feet, the nightmare on the wall.

Anne Higgins

Anne Higgins teaches English at Mount Saint Mary’s University in Emmitsburg Maryland,  USA. She has had about 100 poems published in  a variety of small magazines. Five full-length books and three chapbooks of her poetry have been published: At the Year’s Elbow, Mellen Poetry Press  2000; Scattered Showers in a Clear Sky,  Plain View Press 2007; chapbooks: Pick It Up and Read, Finishing Line Press 2008, How the Hand Behaves, Finishing Line Press 2009, Digging for God,  Wipf and Stock 2010,  Vexed Questions, Aldrich Press 2013,Reconnaissance, Texture Press 2014, and Life List, Finishing Line Press 2016.