To Be An Artist

Fill a wide brush

with green paint—

not an ordinary shade

 but one that imitates

a handful of grapes

or the guacamole 

you ate in Mexico

Fill a sheet as wide as

your outstretched arms

with the greens 

of a forest 

Now add flowers

Paint them boldly

so their scent dances

Let each bloom find

it's own shape

Walk around the paper

until you find an animal,

a galaxy, a place

on a map and add a line

and then another until

you tease it out 

Your world waits to see

itself in lines and shapes,

with colors that talk hip-hop 

or slide like the notes

of a saxophone riff