Caravaggio's Apple
In any gallery there are two
entry points and light resting
against a simple basket of fruit,
an apple gnawed by delicate rot;
each jaundiced hollow wants to pull us
toward something we aren’t ready to name:
moth eaten leaves, the worm
sheltered against tunneled flesh,
but you are still thinking of the dog
that waits beneath Chardin’s table,
its head curving back
as if a scent has leashed him
to a new desire. Does he see
the legs of wine blushing
the emptied glass or the tower
of youthful peaches and how the plums
mimic his tapered snout: concentrated,
unmoved by what he cannot have?
entry points and light resting
against a simple basket of fruit,
an apple gnawed by delicate rot;
each jaundiced hollow wants to pull us
toward something we aren’t ready to name:
moth eaten leaves, the worm
sheltered against tunneled flesh,
but you are still thinking of the dog
that waits beneath Chardin’s table,
its head curving back
as if a scent has leashed him
to a new desire. Does he see
the legs of wine blushing
the emptied glass or the tower
of youthful peaches and how the plums
mimic his tapered snout: concentrated,
unmoved by what he cannot have?
Jared BeloffJared Beloff is the author of WHO WILL CRADLE YOUR HEAD (ELJ Editions, 2023). He is the editor of the Marvel inspired poetry anthology, Marvelous Verses (Daily Drunk, 2021) and has been a peer-reviewer for Whale Road Review since 2021. His work can be found at Night Heron Barks, Barren Magazine, River Mouth Review, The Shore, Contrary and elsewhere. You can find him on Twitter @Read_Instead and see his website www.jaredbeloff.com. He is a teacher who lives in Queens, NY with his wife and two daughters.
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