I had a sketch pad…

I had a sketch pad…

I had a sketch pad.

I had a sketch pad filled with empty pages.

White empty pages began to fill with colors.

Like Autumn’s leaves, the sketch pad
burst with hues—reds, yellows, oranges.

I had a sketch pad filled with faces
—Faces of passers-by.

I had a sketch pad that began to tell stories.

I had a sketch pad
—it was a wise guide.

I took my sketch pad to the one
whose approval I sought.

He held my sketch pad
and glanced at the pages.
He tossed it aside
—told me, “return it.”

He said if that is what I fill the sketch pad
with, it is a waste of fine paper.

I had a sketch pad.
I kept the sketch pad
and, for a long time, the colors died.

I had a sketch pad
with countless etchings
all in black and white.

I had a sketch pad
and chose to never ‘share’ the images
creating me.

I had a sketch pad
and the seed painted
in the black and white pages
burst through the cover.

I had a sketch pad
now filled with the sun.
Stars lit the matte
as green valleys washed
over the pages.
The wind became a song
singing from within the sketch pad.

The man who once told me to
return ‘me’
looked at the sketches.

He wept.

I had a sketch pad
and now I have many
(including a portfolio of creative images).

He has blessed every page 
with his tears.

From heaven’s canopy,

I hear his voice while I am sketching,

“Fill the pages, fill the pages—

well done.”
Inspired by Joy Harjo’s poem, “she had some horses”