How much pain
should we knowingly invite—
the gallery says all, and all at once.
Otherwise, why paint or write
if not for ends hidden in plain sight?
I watch you disappear
into the next room knowing,
one day, this room will be my life.
Memento Mori
Maya C. Popa
Maya C. Popa is the author of Wound Is the Origin of Wonder and American Faith. She is the Poetry Reviews Editor of Publishers Weekly and teaches poetry at NYU and elsewhere.