So there it was, on the cover of the Journal of the American Medical Association magazine, a Jan Steen painting called “As the old ones sing, so the young ones pipe.” Steen is quite the genre painter, and his 17th century Holland is more Tarantino than Norman Rockwell. This, one of his more over-the-top efforts, moved me to poetry…

A Thanksgiving Poem,
by Tom Buckner.

It’s another festive thanksgiving
In our festive house
We’re all of us half in the bag
And mom is half out of her blouse.

Here’s the whole picture:
TheOldOnesSing.jpg

That’s Steen in the red hat, laughing his arse off, and for a few more of his hard-drinkin’, whore-gropin’, bar-fightin’ subjects, here ya go: Jan Steen Paintings