Had It Been Another Painting

When you showed us Gwen John's 

nude self-portrait and asked us

to write about it, my first thought 

was that she was wondering 

What shall I wear today?

I'm not sure why, for it may 

have been night not morning 

when she sat on her bed,

about to lie down, not get up. 

I can't remember what the others wrote,

or how my poem turned out, 

but you were amazed.

Had it been her corner 

of her room in Paris you'd shown us

I could have said

What's the view like from that window?

What kind of flowers are those on the table?

What's in that drawer underneath the vase?

But then 

what would I 

have gone on to write?