On Mondays, at the Museum —

THE INSIDE STORY!

It’s Monday, the day almost every museum in the world is closed to the public. If you’ve ever wondered what goes on behind those gated doors on Mondays, there’s a delightful poem by Marilyn Donnelly that gives the inside story —

If I knew how to collage photos here on WordPress, I would make it easy for you. But I don’t; and so I’m sending you on a kind of scavenger hunt instead. Do the work, click the links, it’s your own Monday morning treasure hunt, and you’ll be able to follow along with the poem (and the people enjoying their day off) as it unfolds. Here goes:

On Mondays

On Mondays when the museums are closed

and a handful of guards

look the other way

or read their newspapers

all of the figures

step out of golden frames

to stroll the quiet halls

or visit among old friends.

Picasso’s twisted ladies

rearrange themselves

to trade secrets

with the languid odalisques of Matisse

while sturdy Rembrandt men

shake the dust

from their velvet tams

and talk shop.

Voluptuous Renoir women

take their rosy children by the hand

to the water fountains

where they gossip

while eating Cezanne’s luscious red apples.

Even Van Gogh

in his tattered yellow straw hat

seems almost happy

on Mondays when the museums are closed.

“On Mondays” by Marilyn Donnelly, from Coda. © Autumn House Press, 2010.