“Degas’s Bather” by Beverley Bie Brahic

The poem “Degas’s Bather” by Beverley Bie Brahic (poetry, ’06) appears in The Times Literary Supplement. It has republished here courtesy of The Times Literary Supplement:

DEGAS’S BATHER

The orchards of the internet have rooms
for my virtual museums, and portals
to fancies I suppress—Roman revels
enhanced with sound effects, like my neighbour
this noon in his condo, earthquake water
stacked prudently on his porch,
a redwood to shade our double windows.

Sounds like he’s surfed a porno flick. Her yelps
ring out in waves like ripples a pebble
makes, plopped into water. And here’s the jug
she’ll sluice her back with in a second
or a century: longing’s embodiment
as I polish off my chicken breast, chased
with last night’s wine, my foraged plum.