[ South Carolina Morning ; Edward Hopper (1955) ]....

South Carolina Morning
--Yusef Komunyakaa 

Her red dress & hat
...tease the sky’s level-
headed blue. Outside 

a country depot,
...she could be a harlot
or saint on Sunday 

morning. We know
...Hopper could slant
light till it falls 

on our faces. She waits
...for a tall blues singer
whose twelve-string is 

hours out of hock,
...for a pullman porter
with a pigskin wallet 

bulging with greenbacks,
...who stepped out of Porgy
at intermission. This is 

paradise made of pigment
...& tissue, where apples
ripen into rage & lust. 

In a quick glance,
...beyond skincolor,
she’s his muse, his wife— 

the same curves
...to her stance, the same
breasts beneath summer cloth.