Poem for Thursday and VMFA Art

Love
By Katy Lederer

After Duras

"We go back to our house. We are lovers.
We cannot stop loving each other."

I come to confiscate your love.
What will you do?

Small shrubs grow in the blackened yard.
Sun, which is yellow, shines in through the windows, now barred.

You were watching me eat.
Put your tongue in my mouth then retract it.

We were waiting for our recompense.
But everyone knows love is bankrupt.

On the billboard in front of us: breasts.
The empty middles of the mannequins that peered out through the glass.

Reprehensibly, I mouthed the words: I love you.

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I had a very busy but pleasant Wednesday, at least compared to Tuesday which was a very sad day for all of us here. Know how I've been saying we desperately needed rain, after more than three weeks of getting almost none? It rained -- poured, at times -- all day Wednesday, which I knew was going to happen because I loathe and despise driving on the Beltway in rain and I knew I had to drive on the Beltway on Wednesday, so that's how it goes. But it was worth it because after months of having to do without, I got to have lunch with Gblvr, who was in College Park with her niece! We went to Noodles and Co. and did a bit of wandering in a clothing store and now I miss her again (ironically, though we both have sons in school there, they both had classes and couldn't join us).

Sadly, I couldn't stay all afternoon because Adam had an orthodontist appointment to replace the retainer he lost last week, where we got a very good piece of news: since he is having his wisdom teeth removed in a couple of months when school ends and his teeth have remained in place for two years since the braces came off, the orthodontist said we could keep an eye on the teeth instead of paying $300 to replace the retainer. So I dropped him off to see Thomas for a while -- the dad's funeral is Saturday, our whole family is going -- then we had dinner and watched this week's episode of The Borgias, in which Lucrezia rocked. Here are some photos from the VMFA's Art Deco and Art Nouveau collection, including Tiffany lamps, two gorgeous brooches (one with a Mucha painting), and a Georges de Feure window: