Painting

Color and corrections

The smell of turpentine

is harsh in my nostrils,

while the neighbors do some projects

at house next door.

I paint with watercolors,

working a second attempt on a beautiful

sunset, the first marred by

abstract anti-realism,

as I have been my whole life.

I’d rather see it the way

I want to see it,

all purples and pinks, and

a mountain of tangerine and blue.

But you tell me to start again,

to discover and capture

the beauty right in front of me.

To embrace what exists,

and replicate it on canvas,

down to the last stroke.

Or I could add some finesse to a world

that is otherwise too real,

the reality hitting me in the face

like a wake up call in the middle of a dream.

Let us forget reality for a moment,

and paint what we imagine.