"Man at His Bath."
[LAUGHTER]
Six years ago, the big museum sold eight famous paintings
to purchase for unspecified millions, Gustave Caillebotte's
"Man at His Bath."
Now it's hip to have a print of it.
And whenever I see one hung for decoration,
I'm almost certain that this is what Caillebotte had in mind
when he broke out the oils in 1884--
Some 21st-century bitch in Boston catching
a glimpse of a famed reproduction,
recollecting a study about how washing oneself
may induce a sense of culpability.
What I remember is he insisted I clean before leaving--
that, and he was trying to be dreamlike.
He took my jaw in his hand and said, "in the next life,
we'll really be together."
And the clamp in his voice made me
almost certain he knew something I did not.
Now I eat right, train hard, get my shots.
This life-- I'm angling to remain in
this life as long as I can, being almost
certain as I am what's after.