Featured Poem: Masterpiece

By Lorraine Walker Williams
Member-at-Large
       

“She is working now…” — Jane Hirshfield, The Poet

 

She is working now, the child at 5,

kneeling at the glass table, a box of crayons

behind her on the couch. The sketch pad open

to ideas, she tells me she gets from her brain.

 

Sun slants through the shutters, illuminates

her face, framing the far-away look she has

when she goes to that place that is not anchored

in geography or the walls of home.

 

Let us give her a soft carpet to kneel on

with an ocean of flowers and looping lines.

Let us give her a plethora of pens and crayons

to fit her long fingers as she pauses to choose

the colors, for what she tells me will be her

Masterpiece.

 

Privileged to witness this artist at work, I

imagine she will draw pictures I will never see.

Let her have this time, this making. Let her fill

reams of paper with shapes and color. Let her

work outside the lines. Let her create her

Masterpiece and hold it up as a gift to our

tired, jaded eyes.

 

12 comments

  1. Carol Ehrlich says:

    I can see it; I can feel it…. I’m there ! This child’s inner world opens for me in this simple description , and the door she swings wide, with its magic , is her private realm . What a privilege she gives us!

  2. Claire Massey says:

    I especially love the second stanza of this poem. Five years old, and already going to the place of dreams that all creative people like to visit for as long as possible, until reality interrupts. The final stanzas keep faith with the future! Wonderful poem.

  3. This is a gorgeous poem, and I can totally relate. As my young granddaughter approaches three years, I exult in watching her create a fantasy tea party or collage. She also enjoys doing “animal work” on her dad’s old portable keyboard and bike repairs with her plastic wrench. Through watching young children, I’m able to recapture that purity of experience, that flow that comes with immersion in a truly creative act. Thank you for sharing this.

  4. Nancy Benson says:

    This is a lovely poem. The comparison of a child’s artwork to life itself is stunning. I love the title and the ending. “Masterpiece” is truly a beautiful look into the world of a child.

  5. Barbara Hanson says:

    A very unique and wonderful appreciation of a child’s creativity and its effect on an older person! Congratulations!

  6. Janet Wilson says:

    Wow!
    So touching and true. Such a beautiful expression of pure honesty, creativity and honor for a child – and the child in all of us!

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