the lighthouse at two lights

Today I spent 4 hours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Located at the beginning of the American paintings wing
was this one Edward Hopper painting of a light house

that held my attention for probably 45 minutes.

I decided that what was most remarkable about this painting was

how the shadows were rendered.

Later, I rounded a corner

and found a long rectangular pink flowering portrait, gilded by lilies

it was a real live Alfonse Mucha painting

of an actress portraying Joan of Arc.

In one of the statue halls there was a statue of Perseus

standing with Medusa's head in his hand.

His sword energetically occupied his right hand while

the gorgon's head hung in his left,

her tongue obscenely lolling out of her mouth.

Standing in his shadow, my neck inclined up towards his face,

I realized that even when I find myself completely free to roam 
a massive, nationally-renowned art museum 
full of different kinds of art,

I seek out

and am most struck by 
the pieces only once removed from their inspired forms.

(Of course this claim about statuary is debatable,

but can you hold your hand out to Mona Lisa

and touch all 3 dimensions of her face?)

That evening around 5 o’clock I went to dinner alone.

I grinned to myself the whole time I sat at my solitary little table.

I had never been on a date with myself before,

I had never been in the company of a girl I enjoyed so much.

Here I was! Alone! With her! In a Thai food restaurant in Midtown!

It felt naughty, in a good way,

like sex in a playground at night,

and as the sun began to sink

behind the roofs of the tall buildings in Midtown

I though it must be about time for me to be getting home.

Before I left 
I thought about taking a picture of myself with my phone,

at my solitary little table,
with my plate of half-finished Thai food,

but then I thought

perhaps it was a little pathetic

to be happy about a day spent alone in the big city.

After all,

how many others had found themselves in the same place as me,

and how many had felt the urge to create about it?