Poem : Janet Frame

Like a flower born of extraordinary color
A color not yet seen by the world
All eyes were suddenly upon you
Combing over you their eyes did do
For an artist is most always far from understood
Easily cast away for being self expressing
But words became your haven Miss Frame
Your sanctuary
Your canvas
For the canvas of the world around you was tattered and torn
Rugged were the asylums you called home
Suggested they were by the world of the inside
A world that preferred to keep your mind at bay
But words pried at the locked door so heavy
The door to the dark wards you found yourself in
Letting in slivers of light so fine
So bright
Slivers of hope cast by the wings of an angel
Hope from the books you read and stories you wrote
Shelter you found in the stroke of a pen
Your words melting off your paper with burning intensity
Dripping into a freefall of beauty
Into a magnificent array of colors seen only by the seeing
Dripping past the white coats in the day room they did
Dripping past the tied jackets of strangers not knowing the normal
Longingly you did for a life of not hiding your thoughts
A life of embracing yourself and your mind
Dear Janet, Dear Janet, always writing with smiles
Smiles that carry your work into the next life
　

Published at Indigo Rising August 20, 2011
　

Artwork By Jason E. Hodges