THE CANVAS SPEAKS

I could have been a field of colorful wildflowers

but the artist had been studying John Marin

and listening to the ocean after the storm

that tossed the red wooden vessel

onto the rocks dismasting her,

shattering her rudder.

I might have been a calm lake

reflecting clouds and soaring birds,

a summer cabin shimmering in my ripples.

There would have been a path to me

and a bench where two could sit together.

Nothing I can do if the artist paints only one person.

But you, like Grandma Moses, could cut out an image

and use glue to put them in the picture.

I could have been a night in the forest

the moon’s face radiant as it made its way

over the treetops taking lessons from the stars

on how to shine to illumine others.

What I could have been doesn’t matter.

I am an abstract.

What you see will differ, like you, from others.

~LJ Austin 2-26-23

ART: "Doclee" 2017