Contents
Empty Room with Light

I Impressions

Looking at Pictures with My Mother · 13

The Iconoclast · 14

The Anarchist · 15

Female Ancestor · 16

Muse · 18

Thumbelina · 19

Father · 20

Walnut Tree · 21

Easter Coat · 22

Compromise · 23

Still Life · 24

Resisting Geometry · 26

The Way Out · 28

II Family Gallery

Lullaby · 33

Holy Family · 34

The Properties of Objects · 35

Improvisations · 36

Painting With My Daughter · 37

Marriage, with Children · 38

Bonding · 40

Inside the Lines · 42

Chore · 43

Errand · 44

Fast Food · 45

Teething · 46

Geese with Their Young · 47

Daughter, Age 9 · 48

Elegy for a Babysitter · 50

Transformations · 52

Julia Packs up her Playthings · 53

On Loaning Maternity Clothes to a Friend · 55

Empty Room with Light · 56

III Life Studies

Thistles · 59

Leafy · 60

Spareribs · 61

Apparition · 62

Unspoken · 63

When I Came Home from College · 65

Collectors · 66

Retirement · 67

Kitchen Sink Meditation: Or Ode

to the One I Refused · 69

Training · 72

The Art Student · 73

Examination · 74

Medicine Woman · 77

After T’ao Chi’en · 78

IV Exhibitions

Rules of the Game · 81

Surge · 82

My Sister’s Report Card · 84

Priestess of Love · 85

Teacher’s Dream · 86

Signifiers · 87

Yoga With Rose · 88

V En Plein Air

Ministry · 90

The Burden · 91

Forty-Something in Milwaukee · 92

Insomnia · 94

Night Vigil · 95

Solitaire · 96

Journey · 98

The Author 99

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