The Kitchen Servants – A Poem

There’s more going on in this painting than at first appears.

From The Met description: “Sorgh inflects a domestic scene with the art of still life. Two maids clean fish and peel vegetables in the foreground, surrounded by gleaming brass and earthenware. A closer look reveals a mischievous cat, an open birdcage, and, barely visible between the two servants, a couple caressing in the shadows.”

It was the notion of things going on in the background that sparked the idea for “The Kitchen Servants” poem.

The Kitchen Servants

How you
ignore the cat
in the fish, and caress
the pears you choose to peel, while I
clean guts!

©elsp

More of my ekphrastic poetry here, More on ekphrastic poetry here. More on the “American” cinquain here.