Women Ironing, Edgar Degas

By John Brantingham

Women die slowly
of rich men here,
the men just out
of the painter’s reach,
women married young,
and kept quiet
with bottles of wine
and young girls made
dancers and actors
filled with champagne
while raped out of virginity.
Mutiny is the logical next
step, after all,
so Degas makes the bottle
the star of the scene.