History in Art

Maggie Devers

My husband tells me I have a twentieth century ass

And that’s a type of poem.

Rubens put touches of red on his angels' rears,

Literally rogue on cheeks

And I feel that’s what this world is missing—

More blushed bottoms

More naked debauchery

More holy stories

We laugh out loud at some of the babies,

Old man newborn is forever the haha trope,

The mortality, ever life, after life, reincarnation, universal oneness

Created for us by some Flemish dude

Appeasing his benefactor.

Before time’s up

And we walk down the mountain back to life.

More from Maggie Devers ↓

• Read my debut poetry book, For My Daughter
• Follow me on Instagram for more poetry @rembrandts.cure

Mentioned in this episode:

Write After: National Poetry Month with One Poem Only

Write After is a way to encourage poets to listen and write, and use National Poetry Month to highlight how listening to poetry makes us better poets. I know I write the best when I’m surrounded by beautiful poetry–it’s part of the reason I created this podcast, and I want to encourage others to share this practice. We'll get started in April. You can share to #WriteAfterOPO.

#WriteAfterOPO