The Legend of the Can

Before nineteen-hundred-and-sixty-two,

Everyone bought it, and everyone knew

What was inside and how it cooked,

But no one cared about how it looked.

Until one day it left the shelf

Where you could find it by yourself,

And jumped, transformed, upon the stage

Of the artworld—the newest rage.

Though cognoscenti screamed their praise,

Some scornful critics, with eyebrows raised,

Declared it gauche and quite plebeian,

Unable to like what they were seein’.

All told, it numbered thirty-two—

Not too many, nor too few—

Not mass-produced, each pane unique,

And everyone came to have a peek.

Hitherto unknown to man,

This work portrayed a simple can,

Silk-screened and shown right there for all—

Campbell’s Soup Cans—Andy Warhol.

It hangs now in MoMA’s gallery,

Abstract, expressionist modernity.

Wondrous design, immaculate plan—

The legend of the Warhol can.

© J. Bradley Burt 2021