We drew portraits landscape
and talked Monet and Whistler
as bristles cut acrylic.
Pigment plastering palms,
we finger-painted like old masters,
sketchy dreams smeared across our faces.
Paint, thick and muddy,
rolled down the canvas of my skin,
trickling, eight-legged and skittering,
across flesh and thought;
sinking into cavities in the small of my back,
the back of my mind–
places for forgotten phobias.
The blank breeze blocks tore
tubes open and we threw
our starling-backed oil paint
at vacant grey.
Our self-portrait unfurled,
poses passionate as our palettes;
we felt the colours,
drank toxic scents.
It demanded more–
we carried it beyond the bed,
dragged chalk and charcoal
over windows and doorframes,
until we couldn’t fill our lungs
in that gasping house.
You begged me to free it,
carry it across the threshold;
let it breathe outside
so it could be infinite.
You longed to burn it into trees,
as though we could brand nature.
I held it back, trapped it
in walls textured as sex talk,
and pinned it there with
false compromises and hollow smiles.
It was controllable.
I made the last mark
and watched it sink into the concrete;
an anticlimax, perhaps,
but it was finished.
For years all we could do
was sit, let our heartbeats slow,
and rub the blood and paint from our eyes.
Our creation stood and stared at us
as we read what we had written,
like it could hold the answers that it sought.
You were the artist;
I saw it in our DIY masterpiece–
in the lines, in the tones–
you gave the flourishes, the life,
the pseudo-depth to empty decisions.
You were the hero in an unwritten adventure,
all foolhardy bravery and humble conceit;
I always knew I’d never make a heroine.
As it grew and spread roots through those walls,
as branches pierced the slates,
I was never surprised that you were right–
heroes are rarely wrong.
Author notes
One day I finally found the man of my fantasies.
It didn’t work out.
The woman I dream of isn’t me.
---
For Quest for the Best.
60 lines
Freeverse
Moral theme
Prompt: "cauldrons of improvisation"
I could really use your help with this! I would love your advice! And title suggestions! Because this title is pretty obvious but I can't think of anything better. As usual.
Advice is always appreciated!
Comments
1 - 5 of 5
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Well written and versed--Very easy to read with excellent flow---You have a lot of talent and I admire your work! Well Done!!
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like some shared ream that never came true
w
hat does DIY mean -
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Do It Yourself, when you do some decorating or build something yourself rather than hiring someone to do it or buying something ready-made.
Thanks for the comment!
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I'm an amateur artist, well, if that's what you call a person who likes to draw, so this was well-enjoyed. I loved how you wove in and out of different colors and techniques, it's really abstrtact and with a deep sense of meaning. Wonderfully and artisitically done!
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Thanks very much for the lovely comment and the points!
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