Looking at Art by Jan Duncan-O'Neal

We take the children to see art,
sacred to us as prayer in a cathedral,
to look, to find the unexpected—
a dot of pink on a blue canvas,
stars puncturing a coal black sky,
a blood orange sunrise rising
over the harbor anchored by sailboats

The children scurry along,
little half-blind mice
sniffing for a morsel of cheese,
content to play hide-and-go-seek
in rooms of glass cases,
never stopping
to squint at their own reflections.



Jan Duncan-O’Neal has devoted the past twelve years to writing poetry since her retirement in the library world. Her work has been widely published, and The Lives You Touch Publications published her chapbook Voices: Lost and Found in 2011. She is currently compiling a full length collection and is an editor for I-70 Review.