Bystander

VMFA guest, Carolyn Gabb, was recently inspired during one of our Jazz Café evenings and composed this poem describing her fifty-five year relationship with the museum. 

BYSTANDER
Carolyn Gabb

In a chair by the window,
Glass of wine in hand, 
I watch the band.
Reflectively…
in a pane of glass across the room.

Tens of circular tables capture
conversations and stories,
lives of individuals,
a core collection of beings and doings.

Almost like bees in a hive,
there is a buzz of voices,
with modulating speech melodies
comprising what others might well call the “din” of the room.

Fifty-five years, on and off, of being in this place.
Where the sculpture, the paintings, the art house my friends.
My dearest love in the Flemish collection finally
Waiting for me as I walk into the baroque gallery.

Economic and intellectual factors of this crowd
undetermined as I do my bystanding, my watching.
Yet, surely the range of ethnicity and age
a good sign of change after years of exclusivity.

Art belongs to all of us…
I feel a new age of giving as Museum doors open again.