Red determination plunges spatulatic bristles
Into your jar of paint;

Sweet deliberation marks a fat red line
With your painter’s brush.

Steady concentration draws a horizontal crossing
Across the sky of your page,

Curving orange follows red, curving yellow follows orange,
Green, blue, violet dance a rainbow step.

Vertical brown reaches out to green dots
Climbing up your artly tree;

Squinting precision delineates your glasses,
Five fingers to each hand.

Joyful abandon strokes in red-haired tangles,
Globby shoes and stick-like limbs.

Smearing magenta fingerprints across your nose,
You run to show off this new obra,
Confident that you are unique.

Five is the perfect age for art.

Cyndi González, copyright 2005