Paint By Numb - Brrrs

Paint By Numb -brrs A picture was there, all cut up with lines forming strange shapes. I seldom knew what the picture was or if it ever became what it was. “Take the blue pencil and color all the shapes with the number 5 inside”. Sort of an artistic “Where’s Waldo” game. I was never good at “hide and seek”, so the numbers often escaped me. Somewhere around, “Take the orange pencil…blah…blah…..blah……, I had already left the reservation and was creating a mosaic of leaves, sort of a bad day in an autumn alleyway. Then the voice of the six foot tall Penguin Lady announced, “Put down your pencils!” Somehow there was a warning in that tone meant to alter my plans for the day. The black and white shadow loomed over me and my Autumn Alleyway. The idea that I was allowing my innate creativity free expression slunk away like a cur dog in defeat. Escape into the colors, the mystery, the joy of just playing with the colors, I found, came at a price. This has been a recurring theme usually followed by the query: “Was it worth it?” The answer was, and is, always the same: “You bet your sweet ass it was.” This answer was sometimes less audible than at other times when it was answered loudly, confidently, with power and conviction. With time, came power, courage, and respect for the colors. Respect for the invitation they offered those many years ago, respect for the lessons they taught me. Respect for the pencils, the colors, the spaces, and the numbers that I made my own. John G. Lawless - 9/19/2014 for PD's - A poem you have not entered in a contest #13