The Artist
She paints the room
in her underwear
freeing her arms
from the confinement
of cloth, loosening
the notion of sleeves
and muttering while
she swathes the walls
in the new colors of autumn.
There are no boundaries
to this canvas, and the paints
that she brushes on
are unending, as if
she has called in all
her markers, and whatever debt
was owed her was paid
in oils and pastels, a palette
of tempera, and golden acrylics.
Her movement is sustained by this,
as if she is fed on the uncertainties
of time mixed with paint. She knows
the minutes need to be counted,
the brush strokes calculated
as she turns to another empty wall.
Mary Sexson is an award-winning poet with two full-length books and two collaborative chapbooks. Her work has appeared in numerous publications and anthologies, and she has participated in many public poetry projects in Indiana. She has poems archived in the INverse collection of Hoosier Poets, at the Indiana State Library. Sexson has six Pushcart Prize nominations and a Best of the Net. Find her at masexson.wordpress.com and at Poetry Sisters on Facebook.