pencil, chalk, on paper
Vincent van Gogh, 1887

The paintings on the gallery walls captivated me.
Masterpieces.
Distinctive brushstrokes, vibrant with color.

I had traveled miles to view them up close.
They had traveled, too.

I made my way among the crowds to an unfinished sketch,
staved off by the lines of a boat on an ordinary piece of paper.

Here, a sailboat floats in the foreground
rendered in sensitive strokes.
There, the city of Asnières is visible across the Seine.
Built from the point of a pencil.

Printed words conjured colors in the mind:
bleu, vert, violet, celestial orange, cobalt

Van Gogh’s draft seemed newly rendered.
It survived, extant and unsinkable.
Ready to launch. Showing me how everything begins.

Sharon finds poetic inspiration in a multitude of places. Her writing journey has been inspired by the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, the Greater Madison Writing Project, Write on Door County, the Lorine Niedecker Poetry Group, and countless students who have given her hope in the enduring power of words. Some of her poems have appeared in Bramble, the WFOP Poetry Calendars, Hummingbird, and other regional contests. May we all marvel at the power of poetry!