Rembrandt                                                                                       

That day alone in Amsterdam, boats, bicycles, glimpses of tiny de Hooch courtyards and everywhere, tall thin houses reflected in canals, after Van Gogh, the Night Watch and many weeping Mary Magdalenes witnessing Descents from the Cross, I pass through the Red-Light District, ordinary and lethargic in daylight, elicit turning matter of fact; a few women in their windows yawn, sip coffee to begin their day; the pungent aroma of Mary Jane is pumped into immaculate alleys; on an impulse, I buy a little, fat and happy Hotei in the open-air market.

Eventually, I find the green shutters, my destination, Rembrandt’s house, and admire what he admired: seashells, swords, helmets, bones, busts and books. In his studio, it’s as if he stepped out for a moment, powdered pigments readied for grinding into walnut and linseed oils. Up the narrow staircase, on the middle floor for the group tour, a pleasant young woman inks and rolls his image through a wooden press.

In an odd tourist’s transference, we fall into a conversation over etching, Rembrandt and Amsterdam. She lightly touches my arm and offers me a generous smile and a print from the Master. I think I would very much like to kiss her, and I’m fairly certain she’d return the affection. Occasionally, I find myself missing her: we would live in a modest houseboat, skirmish over Dutch and American politics, pull prints all day from Rembrandt’s press, make love in Rembrandt’s bed. Instead, upon my return to Ohio, I send her one of my prints and, rightly so, never hear from her again.

David Sapp, danieldavidart@gmail.com 

Biographical Information: David Sapp, writer, artist, and professor, lives along the southern shore of Lake Erie in North America. A Pushcart nominee, he was awarded Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Grants for poetry and the visual arts. His poetry and prose appear widely in the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom. His publications include articles in the Journal of Creative Behavior, chapbooks Close to Home and Two Buddha, a novel Flying Over Erie, and a book of poems and drawings titled Drawing Nirvana.