To Start to Paint

Blank canvas,
bleak,
forboding.

Speaks.

"Dare not dip brush into water
Dare not mix pigment with thinner
Dare not even draw
thin
pencil
lines
upon me, seeking to tame your own wildness

with careful thought."

Yet, I approach the white desert,
the Sahara of my
brush.

Afraid.

Yet certain,
more certain than the canvas,
that pencil,
brush
paint
thinner
water
will find its way here.

Here,

where my spirit speaks more clearly, sometimes,
than anywhere,
except, perhaps,
face-to-face with Love.

But this is not about that, this Love.
Not about conflictuncertaintyfearlustangerneedcravingjuice
juice
juice -- juiciness of Love. . .

This is
about gesso
and horsehair
and a substance known as acryllic.

Acryllic Love.

Tom Goddard
May 13, 2005