Apollinaire Steals the Mona Lisa
On September 7, 1911, French police arrested poet Guillaume Apollinaire for stealing the Mona Lisa.
In that vast lamentable hall
nobility has abandoned,
her ancient suffering smile
innocent of rage
bestows a melancholy radiance
on Americans with museum maps.
A menacing harlequin
lectures on fatal dreams
as the guarded cortege of tourists
without a single vital tear
passes beneath her linen confinement
and time expires wingless.
She has ascended beyond
the violet adoration of crowds,
but I will climb sorrow like a ladder
and steal her perfect glory
to be that fevered mirror
I keep under my bed.
by Chris Bullard
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Chris Bullard lives in Philadelphia, PA. He received his B.A. in English from the University of Pennsylvania and his MFA from Wilkes University. Finishing Line Press published his poetry chapbook, Leviathan, in 2016. Kattywompus Press published High Pulp, a collection of his flash fiction, in 2017. His work has appeared in publications such as 32 Poems, Green Mountains Review, Rattle, Pleiades, River Styx, and Nimrod.