On Loan to the Art Museum

by Pat Sturm

Still vibrant after a hundred years,
Toulouse-Lautrec’s original posters
explode from the wall of the gallery,
cajoling audiences back to the Moulin Rouge –

to Aristide, arrogant in black gaucho hat and scarlet scarf,
to raucous can-can dancers kicking black-clad legs
through gaudy, golden ruffles,
to an evening of gaiety for those who succumb.

On the opposite wall, a small oil painting
in greys, blacks, and stark whites
belies his flamboyant façade.
Absent the merrymaking, the frivolity –

a gaunt woman with chaotic hair, clenched teeth and
haunted, popping eyes, jabbing a morphine syringe
into her bare thigh.

Pat Sturm’s love of words carried her from the stage to the classroom, from the marker board to the printed page.  Every presentation before a group is still a performance, especially when it includes her own work.  With her husband in their adopted hometown of Weatherford, Oklahoma, she reads, writes, and gardens, and combines her interests in newspaper pieces and poems.  With a special fondness for bold artwork, she visited a “Paris: 1900” exhibit and found inspiration for “On Loan to the Art Museum.”