break & enter one: my thief

a pairing: Boy Drinking, Annibale Carracci, 1580

Boy Drinking, by Annibale Carracci, 1580

On March 14, 2020, thieves broke into the Christ Church Picture Gallery at Oxford University and stole Boy Drinking, by Italian artist, Annibale Carracci (1560 - 1609), along with two other Old Masters, one by van Dyck and one by Salvatore Rosa. All three had been housed at Christ Church since 1765. To date, only the Rosa has been recovered. That was in April of this year in Romania where the investigation continues. For me, the gusto with which the boy in the painting is downing his drink suggested something about the somewhat less ambitious thief of my poem. No one has ever bothered to search for him.

my thief

Can see him now my thief 
feet up he leafs 
a dog-eared discard 
and throws back the Shiraz 
a three-week vintage we made
at the shop on Main 
(it was stored in our garage)
and he listens to Hot Air on the CBC 
blaring alto and muted tenor
through the one good speaker 
of the old boom box 
I’d left out in the rain

A good ol’ time for my thief
for that’s what he took
books vino radio fare 
nothing worthy the fence
just Sunday modes of pleasure
for a sundry afternoon
intellectual sensual lounging
in his underwear
a long-sought defence 
against the ravages of hard time
or so I surmise
since I can’t help 
but see him as
an echo or even mime
that is of myself
after all this poem
is not his

Oh call the cops you say
I suppose I should have
if only to let them know 
he’s having fun 
and that it’s quite okay 
with me that he is

coming Thursday: break & enter two: my benefactor