Little Girl in a Blue Armchair
Mary Cassatt, 1878
Joseph R. Trombatore

No mirror is in view
no table, or stand
the armchairs are pushed together
like awkward dancers
at a Cotillion

Too young for knives
She’d rather be outside
playing
in the blue
that eyes & fabrics often mimic

In weather too cold
for short skirts
the dog rests beside her
worn from
delicacies on cerulean chintz
of dolls & dress up
& pink teacup parties

The cool moss green
carpet
pulls her, draws her,
her feet, like rose cuttings, ready to root

The flow of streams
she will grow by & into

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