Bright and Dark

National Poetry Month Poem #2:

I am a 1960s pop art illustration

Emerging optimistically after a long, bloody war.

My soul rebels in vivid color

From within a thick black outline of a body.

This crying woman knows it’s time for change;

Time for me to take well-known images of pill bottles

And beer cans and cover them with brightly colored ticket stubs,

Love letters, and published poems, time to re-work

Abstract dreams of a successful life into steel

Sculptures of attainment. It was nice to try different shapes for a while

But now I know what I want: I want to live as a subversive work of art

Forever an oft repeated emblem with a familiar meaning;

An icon known and loved for being true in every color permutation.

Thank you, Lichtenstein!