it’s been a long time
since i’ve drawn or painted anything,
and sure i’d like to pick up a paintbrush again,
even though i’m also certain what i would
have to paint wouldn’t be technically sound,
nor all that disciplined,
but i’d have acrylic under my nails once again,
and i might feel as if i made something,
even though i probably should have strangled it
before it got loose
i learned from the portrait of dorian gray that it’s best
not to let a mediocre artists paint a portrait of you,
nor let mediocre personalities (including yourself) adore you,
only to be wrapped up in your own ego
to the point where youth and time mean nothing,
when the superficialities strip away,
leaving bare
what was never there
though also to that point,
i wonder what the story of dorian gray would have been like
if rather than a beautiful painting of his youth he kept hidden away,
it was a cartoon caricature?
Fred Aiken Writing 