Tromp L’Oeil
David Thornbrugh

The French have a word for it,

but like everything in French,

it sounds better than what it describes.

This end of the building,

none of the windows open

or reflect actual street, trees, sky,

they are painted on, fake windows

meant to fool the eye, the way some

Rococo cabinet doors were inlaid

with wood of different color –

cherry, apple, pine – to show interior

shelves stacked with clothes, jewelry.

In a university town over five hundred

years old, it’s good to give the students

something to do, otherwise they tend

to insult the locals, drink too much,

try to overthrow the state.