by Jon Coe

Created on: June 11, 2008

How haunting, these paintings of food
still life, oil on canvas, or wood
A lonely banana, sitting on a plate
or an orange, comforting a date

Wedgewood comports and Copeland dishes
painted precisely, tureens full of fishes
Silverware, napkins and stately place settings
candelabra, wine decanting appetite wettings

Backdrops of woodlands, hovering in distance
cocker spaniels and pugs, looking for assistance
But on tables so noble, for King or Queen to suit
sits a half eaten kipper and a bowl of fruit

Renoir, Matisse, Monet, Chagall and Derain
a few famous Masters, just to mention by name
Landscapes, seascapes and portraits, so big
with maybe a glimmer of an apple, grape, or fig

Why do they paint cabbages, pea-pods and peaches
deliciously strewn across tables, as far as eye reaches
I know that food, adds depth and dimension to asunder
but what happened to that food, I perplexedly wonder.

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