How to Judge a Picture

Everyone in the room is cheering. This is what you do for a painting you love! We climb up on one another’s shoulders, wave pom-poms that match the palette. We want to buy the season tickets to the train that huffs through this landscape. We want to climb the towers of this steely sculpture and hang the flag. Victory is ours! We have seen something to love here. Outside the gallery, there is an alley full of garbage. Beauty stops at the door. A scraggly tree is coming out of the pavement where the people are lined up, cigarettes and cell phones, waiting for a chance to look. They keep their giant fingers in their bags. Wear T-shirts of their favorite teams of artist assistants. On the alley wall, someone has drawn a hillside and a horse. A young man sits on a crate and peels the glue from under his nails. He nods. And looks. And soon, pulls out the chalk and adds a saddle and a man, who looks back and shouts as if he has found his enemy again.