It was someone's good intention
to hang pieces of art in the foyer of the school.
Since the restrooms and the cafeteria were just past it,
no matter the reason, a grumbling stomach or a nature call.
They'd hit the kids with culture,
like a pie in the face at a country fair.
Houses and fields painted by Grandma Moses,
was it real or a facsimile?
The one she remembered the most was by Andrew Wyeth.
It still haunted her and filled her with an unrequited thirst.
What is the girl in the pink frock doing in that field?
She's ascending the hill, so she can't be escaping.
The house and barn are weather-worn and paint-less,
so whoever resides within its frame has fallen upon hard times.
There's some clothes billowing on the line,
so the place must be inhabited,
unless both Christina and the laundry were left behind.
Are those fresh tracks leading to or from the homestead
Is it a homestead or someone's abandoned dream?
What is she trying to reach and why can't she run toward it?
Is she filled both with a sense of fear and wonderment
about the place?
A fresh circle of a newly mowed field lays before her, but the hay is gone, the harvest has been reaped and the tractor is hidden, returned to its sarcophagus within the barn, or exited with its prize like a thief in the night.
Did she ever look out from the second floor dormer's,
or did someone stare down at her
like the all knowing eye on a dollar bill?
We can't see her face..is she crying, laughing, smiling?
Her belt entwines her waist like a jailer's noose.
Her hair flies freely from her bun,
does this signify broken bondage?
Has Wyeth filled this canvas with secrets and innuendos
meant only for him?
Or is it just a portrait of a young woman in a pretty pink frock?
As the students passed by Christina on their way to eat
or relieve themselves,
did they give her more than a passing thought?
Do they remember her now, almost 40 years later?
Have they each become Christina in their own way,
longing for whatever it is they want,
but can not capture?
Or have become like Andrew Wyeth,
with hidden answers to unasked questions,
and a riddle that defies the ages?
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