Portrait of a Man, by Eric Colburn

Portrait of a Man, by Jan Gossaert, called Mabuse (Belgium, b. France) 1515-1520

​Portrait of a Man
 
As Mabuse does it, the hand held halfway turned
between beseeching and confession, holds nothing
but itself, while the other hand hides within
his partly-shrugged off cloak. His hat's absurd,
flopping above a black skullcap: a burnt-
orange mushroom top replete with stitching,
a seal, and snaps… Still, this is all bewitching
distraction: the picture's heart, above the curls
of beard, is that pair of offset, mismatched eyes.
Ostensibly aimed at the viewer, they have, it's clear,
no object in view but his own dolorous, half-wise,
bent-nosed, knob-cheeked, small-eared, self-aware face.
He looks our way unblinkingly and says,
Look on yourselves, ye mighty, and despair.
 
Eric Colburn

Eric Colburn is a poet whose work has appeared recently in Appalachia, Blue Unicorn, The Orchards Poetry Journal, and other places. He lives with his family in the Boston area, where he rides his bicycle everywhere, but whenever he drives up to the mountains he stops at the Currier Museum on the way home.