The Sunlight of Edward Hopper

Sweet Talk
by Billy Collins


You are not the Mona Lisa
with that relentless look.
Or Venus borne over the froth
of waves on a pink half shell.
Or an odalisque by Delacroix, 
veils lapping at your nakedness.
You are more like the sunlight
of Edward Hopper,
especially when it slants
against the eastern side
of a white clapboard house
in the early hours of the morning,
with no figure standing
at a window in a violet bathrobe,
just the sunlight,
the columns of the front porch
and the long shadows
they throw down
upon the dark green lawn, baby.


_________________________________________________________________________________


If you're wondering, the works of Edward Hopper are incredibly mundane and simple, yet they're equally beautiful and moving. The lighting is exquisite in his paintings. If dear Billy had said this to me, I would believe he saw me as down-to-earth and real, but still just as lovely and inspiring.