Jean-Léon Gérôme, French
“I Know It Seems Weird, But I Like To Bring My Pet Raccoons Down To the Baths. I Keep Them in This Cage Underneath Me. Though I Can Tell From Your Face I Forgot To Lock the Door Again LOL,” Before 1900
Oil on canvas
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/// Though surrounded by nudes in profusion,
Gérôme hides by the wall in seclusion.
Naked beauties abound,
but he’s scared to turn ‘round
and reveal his blue burqa’s protrusion.
/// If you open a new public bath,
to draw customers, follow this path:
Have some models expose
their bare flesh when they pose
for your ads. Will it work? Do the math.
/// In addition to models divine,
other ploys can increase bottom-line.
A minor subtraction
will spur men to action.
Remove L from the PUBLIC BATH sign.
/// Once again, harem girl washes feet,
but this time she’s portrayed with more heat.
Not a Palmolive ad;
several girls are unclad
but I don’t get the cage that’s her seat.
/// Perhaps once it held songbirds inside,
gathered here for the tunes they’d provide.
Their sweet songs and bright hues
would dispel the girls’ blues,
until, from lack of freedom, they died.
/// It is rare for raccoons to intrude
in the harem bath. (They can be shooed.)
If black-masked vermin viewed
Sultan’s wives bathing nude,
they were only there washing their food.