Chester At A Crossroads Poem by Robert Matte Jr.

Chester at a Crossroads *


The house
burning.
Chester watching
firemen
put it out
with water and foam,
a heavy sinking feeling,
his lifework
going up in smoke
nothing he could do
to stop it.
The balance of things
had shifted.
To exit
this torment he must
express himself
through art.

He would fly
to Europe
to Paris
to a continent
with new
possibilities.
Bargain for
a cheap garret
on Rue De Rimbaud
near the streetcar line.
Close by
tourist boats
sailed the Seine.

In the Louvre
he would gaze at
fertility goddess
statues
and then paint
life studies
of woodpeckers
in the Tuileries.

Time heals.
Chester would honor
its passing with
a good Bordeaux.





* This was written for a poetry workshop after being told to use the following
random words in a poem:


foam fertility
continent stop
torment house (s)
bargain (ing) balance
woodpecker sail (ing)
streetcar heavy
fly express