Sidelined Poem by Lois Read

'You were dancing with the flowers'
he said
as I came in with my sketch pad and paints
and then with a twinkle
'God's in the flowers'
he said
and walked away.

So I bristle
when youa sk me
'are you painting? '
Because if I tell you truthfully
NO
you rush to reassure me
tell me it's temporary
insist I will paint again.

I want my porcupine quills
to puncture your platitudes
cut up your certainty
SCREAM
that you're missing the point

which is
for me it's not about
making pretty pictures
recording events
giving form to feelings
creating order
or whatever other reasons painters have
for painting

It's about dancing.

So please hear me tell you
that while I'm not painting
I'm not sick
or depressed
or too busy
or too old
it's simply that in quite a while now
no one
or nothing
has asked me to dance.