Elaine Sexton
On Rothko’s “Dark Palette”
The suited guards in the gallery
usher us in. Like mourners we gauge
& weigh our pleasure
as the new climate we live in
grows grim. From this leather-
bound bench I follow the scratched
horizon crossing his canvas, cutting
pigment the color of pavement,
as our palette, our prospects to prosper
grow darker, then dim.
Elaine Sexton is a poet, critic, and teacher. Her most recent collection of poems is Prospect/Refuge (Sheep Meadow, 2015). On the Web at elainesexton.org.