Capturing a Plum Blossom

In the center of the table
There is a vase, a deck of cards,
And an old rubber fire engine.

He is painting. He says,
"It's a still life with domestic
Fleeting." I think

It's a bit much for this world,
But don't say so. Instead I ask
Why the truck he is painting

Is green & not red,
And he shrugs, says, "it doesn't
Matter really." "But why

The vase empty?" I ask.
"Because," he says,
"I'm looking only to exhibit

Their truest forms." "Oh," I say,
"Like Carroll's 'frumious
Bandersnatch!'—the way

He captures the sound of story
Without using its words,
Or Picasso—the way

The masks capture the essence
Of both the animal's
External & internal form."

"No," he says,
"Like a vase, a deck of cards,
And an old rubber fire engine."

Copyright © 2005 John Pursley III All rights reserved
from Smartish Pace
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission