Blank Canvas

we'll start with a blank canvas
and work from there, each
twisting of the wrist bringing
forth some new nuance
to wonder over

the tints, mixed, so, to match
your eyes, the shading of light
and dark in your smile,
the unequal mixing of talent

and aspiration--you set out
to make a table, and, somehow,
end up with a chair

nonetheless, it is a good chair--
you will rest on it and witness
myriad sunsets, the colors woven
through them like threads, the
ends broken off with the grinding
of one tooth upon another