In Memory of the Forgotten
In Rome in 1600 several famous painters now forgotten
shared a pair of linen wings tall as young poplars,
their ivory fabric grayed, frayed from leaning against
whatever props had collected in whatever small studio,
these two wings joined with rope and a harness
so the model could strap himself into the wings,
dangle above the head of the painter,
stare lovingly down into Christ’s face
and likewise into the other faces of the poor
who posed for the price of a piece of bread, a cup of wine,
likewise into the face of this painter who needed an angel,
and fast, to satisfy the eye of the Inquisition, which could be
anywhere, and therefore was here in this very room,
where imagination lived, and held its breath.
Suzanne Cleary’s The Odds will be published in March 2025 by New York Quarterly Books. She has received a Pushcart Prize, the John Ciardi Prize, the Cecil Hemley Memorial Award of the Poetry Society of America, and numerous fellowships. Her works have appeared on PBSNewshour.org, as well as in Best American Poetry, The Atlantic, the Southern Review, and Poetry London.