Robinson Walks Museum Mile

By Kathleen Rooney Kathleen Rooney

the ideal city building itself in his brain.

Is this mile magnificent? He’s lived here

a while, but the mile feels unreal. Robinson’s

training himself to act blasé. Do museums

amuse me? Yes, but not today. Would he

like to be in one? Of course. Why not?

An object of value with canvas wings,

an unchanging face in a gilt frame, arranged—

thoughtless, guilt-free, & preserved

for eternity. Robinson doesn’t want to be

exceptional. He knows he is. He wants to be

perceived exceptional. Trains plunge by, steam

rising from the grates. Sing, muse! of a man

ill-met at the Met. A man on his lunch break,

heading for a heartbreak, a break-up with Time.

A break-up with time? Feeling filled with ice,

the way you chill a glass, Robinson passes

the National Academy. He craves a sense

of belonging, not to always be longing. To be

standing in a doorway, incredibly kissable,

not waiting at the four-way, eminently missable.

Is this mile magnanimous? He wants it

unanimous: that this is his kind of town—

up & down & including Brooklyn. The sky

is clearing, but the isolation sticks.

Robinson’s not sure what a camera obscura

is for, but he thinks he should have

his portrait done with one. Faces

blur by as he heads toward the Frick.

Something used to photograph the obscure.

Source: Robinson Alone (Gold Wake Press, 2012)

Biography

Kathleen Rooney is a founding editor of Rose Metal Press. She is the author of the essay collection For You, For You I Am Trilling These Songs (Counterpoint, 2010) and the poetry collection, Robinson Alone (Gold Wake Press, 2012). With Elisa Gabbert, she co-wrote That Tiny Insane Voluptuousness (Otoliths, 2008).

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