Picturing Life

This poem is entered in Round 80 of "Shadows and Light Poetry Contest" 

Picturing Life

A gathering of art supplies in January
drawing the familiar or whatever comes to mind
surprising even oneself with long neglected
visions of color and portraits on a page

The van from amazon brings most of the tools,
those not bought at the local Barnes and Noble
Charcoal pencils draw portraits of faces
even a picture of a basset hound emerges

But this basset hound is not real
does not wag its tail or kiss my face when I sleep
In my picture the dog is friends with the cat outside
Like most fiction, this would never happen

Although there is a very persistent black cat
that only wants to give affection to a certain basset hound
who has had some bad experiences with cats
and is a bit hesitant to say the least

You would be hesitant too, if snapped at enough times
Reckoning that the risk wasn't worth any imagined reward
the cat never gives up trying,
even making friends with the amazon delivery truck driver

She runs to the front door step, with hope at every delivery,
hoping to be friends with someone, anyone
while the basset hound snores quietly in one of her beds
dreaming of being drawn in pictures without cats

in sparkling fields of gold
on a day that feels like summer in January
and the sun shines forever...
and art is in the eye of the beholding canine judge

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