ANOTHER POEM ABOUT PAINTING

A warm day,
When the sun was moving slow overhead
My teacher and I played in the yard,
A ball was spun with anger, even hate, 

And a tail of ferocity like a frozen heart 
Of ice
Gleamed behind it, 
Spectacularly,
Striking me in the eye.
Leaving me black and blue.

A comet.
Who’s not in awe of a comet?

The bruise filled my vision
And narrowed.

I was in awe of it still.
Glistening icicles, sparkling diamonds.

I watched the slow drip and drop 
As tears from
One man’s sadness,

Cascading across the driveway
And running quickly into
Pores in the pavement.
The same slab of concrete where my brother and
Sisters and I rode big-wheels
And lay on our backs
Watching the sky roll by.

The summer ended and came autumn.
Another teacher was sent my way
And said, “You are exactly the student
I was looking for.
Get into my box,
Under my wing.”

My legs were long
And needed to stretch.
I was getting a crick
In my neck.

The sidewalls collapsed
One day in the rain,
As weak cardboard does,

And I dropped to the ground.

Rain filled my swollen eye
Which reminded me I had to
Get up and move on.

Winter came and wrapped me
In a wool coat,
Sheltering me from its sting.

But then one day it
Didn’t like the color of my hair anymore,

Thought I should dance to its timing,
Said I wasn’t advancing enough
And that I emptied the dishwasher wrong.

I replied, “Winter, the sun is shrouded.
Wait till Spring and you
Will see my steps move
In beautiful timing.”

The world narrowed in on him
And clouds produced heavy
Curtains, blinding his periphery.

But I was there, just on the side,
Waving and calling

“Hello? 
Hello, winter. 
Come and join me throughout
The entirety of year.”

But he couldn't hear me.
His incessant cold blew
Through the trees.

I tripped over a bucket of brushes
And fell onto a canvas
Had a long conversation with it,
As long as a lifetime.

Which is actually just a second.

And there I was able to look at all
Things, hear all things, see all things

Beyond the boundaries of the
Four corners of canvas.

stephanie jordan-renz

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