Bacchants
after
Velásquez
Go down to Queen Street
on a summer evening,
or walk to Odell Park
and look in the dark
beneath the trees:
you’ll find them
gathered round a fire,
drinking meths or after-shave.
Fly Karsh from Ottawa.
Lodge him in the Beaverbrook
then bribe these Bacchants with free
booze and bring them to him.
One day their photos will hang
with those of Hatfield or Robichaud
in the New Brunswick Hall of Fame.
That’s what Velásquez did
when he painted his dwarfs
and topers, and you can see them
in the Prado today,
as famous as
Spain’s King and Queen.
rogermoorepoet 