Diego Rivera's Portrait of Irene Estrella

Diego Rivera's Portrait of Irene Estrella
(at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts)
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She sits there
her mary - jane's worn
to dull blackness
like her eyes
watching while
her mouth gnaws hungrily
at the orange block
as the cat
lying stretched out
on the green mat
dead because
all cats in mexico
are dead and all children
have faces of grown-ups
because they are all poor
and starving while
across the border
of canvas painted
on a museum that
is civilized and literate
by definition
of its english speaking
whiteness where
the sand is never stained
by blood of wild animals
bellowing in agony
as they succumb
to the matador's carefully placed thrusts
much like a painter's finishing flourishes
that lead to
approving nods
from these impossible foreigners                                                                         
who teach their children                                                                                     
to beg for more
as this is surely
what irene estrella's eyes
are asking of us
in her pose
ringed by the folds
of blue crenellan normalcy
or are her eyes
staring angrily?
at the beasts in the crowd
waiting for the ears
tail and nose to be severed
because that is
how we imagine
the frame to fit
and that is what we must see
to preserve our perspective
so humor us
senor rivera
and have her
put down the block
and eat the cat
so we can casually judge                                                                                           
the next painting.