Unsmiling Woman

It's pretty sad to think
that the most beautiful
thing in the western
hemisphere is an import
from Europe. I'm
referring, of course, to
that painting by
Leonardo of a woman
which rests in state
in the National Gallery.
That, that unsmiling
almost sneering woman
seems to me to be
worth any measure of
American art not to
mention American
junk. And it's heavy
heavy beyond belief
with an aesthetic
weight greater by far
than all the sky-
scrapers which line
the Avenue of the
Americas in New
York.

I could sit in front
of her for days except
I'd probably get knee'd
by other tourists and
would have to leave
periodically to get lunch.
Oh, but she is beauti-
ful, beautiful for her
severity, which I love
And, you know, they
say homosexuals like
Michelangelo and Leonardo
couldn't paint real women.
But I think
they did.