On visiting the Van Gogh exhibition, Salford, February 2022

Advertised as a sensory experience but

failed to show his mind,

his desperate letters to his brother 

Theo,

self-mutilation and suicide??

His ginger heart-felt wisdom sought

solace in a bottle of absinthe.

In life he never quite transcended

the bodily pains of the 

working classes and suppressed genius.

Earthly brothel, bedlam.

He turned his handsome face to the sun but heard

only the agony of penury.

He never bowed down to wealthy pretenders or authority.

You will not know him from his

paintings alone,

perhaps you never will.

Overall, well-worth a visit.