Chasing Picasso

Trapped between

glass fingers

pointing skywards

we find the

Chicago art museum

and wander down corridors

lit by Renoirs

come face to face

with a Modigliani

The Chagall windows

are bathed in light

and love

Among the floating couples

and dancing rabbis

I spy the Statue of Liberty

torch held high

Chagall’s homage to America

Ten minutes to closing

and we run to find the Picasso

breathless

hopeful

leaping stairs

two at a time

“We’re closing ma’am”

I’m here from England

I explain

It’s my last day

I must see the Picasso please

Amazingly he lets me through

We have a few seconds

in front of the Picasso

the old man with the guitar

Only time to take

one swift photo

one fleeting memory

We leave

breathless and laughing

I feel as if

I have been

chasing Picasso all my life

confusing

amazing

challenging

witty

audacious

Picasso

Hand in hand

we stride back to our hotel

under brilliant blue skies

and the startling backdrop

of skyscrapers

windows shimmering

and winking in the sunshine

watched by thousands

of office workers

trapped behind their desks

Tomorrow we fly home

Tomorrow

I find

I left

my camera

behind.

Old man with guitar

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

© Andrea Neidle, My Life in Poems