How To Look At A Painting

how to look at a painting the course title read
while other fireworks in my head went off
from a sky lark's point of view

from behind a rose hedge
standing in your shoes
through a kaleidoscopic lens

with your best friends
with your face pressed up against the canvas
to see the brushstrokes

in a lily pond kind of mood
with dark green shadows strewn
sipping something cool

after school in sandals and your best jewelry,
a folkloric dress
as if you had no secrets to confess

completely in the dark
with God for guest
since it's bound to be dazzling

then no matter what your bent is

as if it were a valentine sent
from really far away

mary angela douglas 7 february 2016