Les Amoureux en Bleu, by Barbara Crooker

Two Lovers in Blue, by Marc Chagall (France, b. Belarus) 1919

Les Amoureux en Bleu

Once this was us, young and in love, caught,
not on canvas, but in a snapshot.  I want to be
that girl, cast in blue shadow, her lips
on his, sharing that kiss.  I want her inky
corkscrews escaping in front of her ear.  I want
those gloves, checked like the grill of a store
front.  I want to be loved completely like that,
no doubt or obfuscation.  Marry me,
this painting seems to be saying.  Cover me
in blue shadows, hues of cerulean.  Night may
be coming, a dramatic black curtain, but
the rigid edges of the frame will not allow
its intrusion.  Instead, the world is blue,
him and her, me and you.

Barbara Crooker

This poem was previously published in Live Encounters.

Barbara Crooker is the award-winning author of numerous books of ekphrastic poetry, including Some Glad Morning, The Book of Kells, Gold, and Les Fauves. She has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize more than fifty times.