Mrs. Dali Takes a Bath, by Katherine Huang

Galatea of the Spheres, by Salvador Dali (Spain) 1952.

Mrs. Dali Takes a Bath

                                                   Gala looks to her left 
                                                   and finds her (par)amour’s hand
                                                   absent. How can it be? 
                                                   She turns her head further 
 
                          and sees the slope of the bathtub 
                          against her back. The water 
                          trembles like a blanket 
                          as she sighs, rubbing her shoulder 
 
            with her own thumb instead.
            Will he come to dinner tonight? 
            Or has he discovered 
            the sag in her breasts, her imminent 
 
old-ladyness? She runs her palms
over her nipples, tries to recall 
kissing the forehead of a little girl
she once suckled, and can’t. Did it 
never happen, or has the memory 
 
                          merely bubbled away, away 
                          in a champagne of oblivion? 
                          She hugs the latter idea to her biceps 
                          and slides lower into the water. 
                          Loverless, ungrateful-childless, 

                                                    she pictures herself 
                                                    basking in the nearby Mediterranean, 
                                                    foam and all, while a younger, clean-
                                                    shaven Salvador throws in rose petals 
                                                    from the shore. Grain by grain, 

                          her childhood slips from beneath 
                          her feet, and she begins to follow it 
                          out to sea, trailing behind her 
                          the hair she has started to count 
                          in strands instead of locks.
 
Gala glances at the bathroom door, 
then caresses each thought 
to be washed away one more time
when she pulls out the plug 
and rises from the tub. 

                         Salvador is peering 
                         through the keyhole.
                         In his vision, he juggles 
                         Gala’s heavenly bodies.

​Katherine Huang

Katherine Huang, who often goes by Kathy, is a graduate student in genomics and computational biology at UPenn. Her work has appeared in Rattle (Ekphrastic Challenge) and The Oakland Review. When not writing or sciencing, she enjoys dancing and taking naps.

Gala and Salvador Dali, photographer unknown, 1933.