I Lie On The Sofa In The Museum, Poem by Liza Sud

The USA is such a young nation-state, it has only shallow roots, weak, easily broken. Your nation-state, Mother Russia, has deep abiding roots, you are deeply rooted, as some of your poems, including this one. I take the Museum to be a symbol of the vast culture of Russia, the couch you lie on shows how deeply embedded you are in the long life of your country, and that awareness of roots going way down, also gives you access to the stars. Americans had to build a rocket ship to reach the moon, you as a child of Russia can reach the stars just by closing your eyes. Long may this worldly wonder thrive and live you to the stellar wonder above!

The title made me think of a famous painting by Henri Rousseau of a woman lying on a sofa in the middle of a jungle! Isn't lounging in a museum just as startling? Unless the speaker is one of the art objects, perhaps a statue. The ending is very mysterious. The references to virginity, fear for his life, first birth strike me as relating to Jesus and Mary. Or perhaps I'm just thinking in terms of Christmas because it's Dec 26.

Awesome muse, from the ledge we were not falling..........10++++