I’m Looking At A Photo On A Page

I’m looking at a photo on a page
that I tore from a fashion magazine.
It’s a photo of a normal woman
not a model but she’s posing in clothes
called by names like Marc Jacobs and Fendi.

The woman posing is called by the name
Amy Greenspon. She buys and sells art work.
She says she doesn’t believe that fashion
is art. She describes her own fashion look
as dress down casual with an urban
sensibility. I tore out the page
because the photo’s a tough one to sketch.
Her head is tilted but only a bit.
Her body’s turned to the right just a bit.
Her weight’s shifted off her left leg a bit.

A good sketch should capture those little things.
In half a dozen tries so far I’ve failed.
But, you know, photos are agreeable—
even a normal woman wearing clothes
that cost thousands of dollars doesn’t mind
holding a pose for another session.

Someday I’ll have the opportunity
to sketch a woman like this in real life
and I’d better be ready to capture
all the cool little bits on my first try
because I strongly suspect a woman
wearing clothes that cost thousands of dollars
will definitely want to go places
where people can see her expensive clothes
and not stand around sighing while some guy
sketches her, shakes his head and starts again.

Unless, of course, the guy sketching also
is the guy who bought the woman her clothes.

These are the two futures I’m moving toward.

One in which I get better sketching. Or
one in which I can buy a woman clothes
that have their own names. Of course, I suppose
both could come true. I’ll have to remember
if that ever happens—money and art—
to look up Amy Greenspon in real life
and sketch her and buy some art work from her.