Art makes you…

When you read early
Hemingway stories,
you’re reading very fluidly—
and when you’re finished,
you’re not sure what it means. . . .
It’s somewhat like a riddle,
so you read it again.

And that’s, I think,
what art is—
art makes us go back
to it a second or third time.
It seems as if it’s accessible,
but maybe it’s not so simple.

—Joyce Carol Oates