From wildly different angles on Earth,
brushstrokes craft our closeness.
In someone else’s painting, red bleeds
down my cheeks. Your eyes burn
like carefully constructed fires.
Clouds shake and wrap their laughter
around us. A little bird hiding in the dark green
is a promise I made you.
Confronted with indecision, the artist
chooses to mute our urgency in pastels
and wonders whether to hang this work
or tuck it away as a reminder of his toil.
Quickly, all traces of us are washed
from his brush. That little bird hiding in the dark green
flees.
Watercolor
Published
The Failures of a Non-Performer 