Our poet this week is Linda Larson. Linda used to be editor of the Spare Change News, a newspaper sold by the homeless throughout the city. I used to be an arts reporter under her and the late Cindy Baron. They taught me a lot. Linda let me write a couple of feature stories in their All Poetry issues that they used to publish. Since then I have published a poetry collection by Linda, and she has appeared numerous times in Ibbetson Street magazine. She has long been an advocate for the homeless and mentally ill and has struggled with both of these demons throughout her life.

Dutch Treat at the MFA

Linda Larson.

It is in the shadows
we find the liveliness.

Stiff, ruffled collars and arch,
dignified poses quickly lose their luster.

It is the drabness of grays and browns
that invite us in.

Blacksmiths toil and farriers
shave the hooves and file the teeth

of a piebald stallion while
a woman milks a stalwart cow.

A mother combs through
her daughter’s hair for lice.

A baker flourishes his knife as
a cat is caught in mid-leap.

Officers in peacock finery strike
gallant poses as conscripts,

lay-abouts, drink themselves into a stupor,
one vomits into a pail.

It is in the shadows
that life entertains.

In the dancing of a jig
lurks the dark side of the Dutch.

— Linda Larson

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