13th April 2026

 

frosty morning

I am caught in a sudden shower

cherry blossom

© Rachel Green April 2026

A Bonfire of Vanity

Is life too short to enjoy the wonder?

the play of light on layers of pigment

lay down in an instant

or over a lifetime.

"You can't charge that," they tell me; 

"Who would give you seven pounds

let alone seven hundred

or seventy thousand, when it took you

all of five minutes to draw."

However problematic Picasso was

(and I am glad I wasn't his wife)

he was an amazing artist

and I watched a TV interview shortly before he died

where he made a drawing live on film

and asked 30K for it.

"It only took you thirty seconds," the interviewer said,

"How can you want thousands for it?"

And Picasso, with a sad smile, shook his head.

"Thirty seconds?" he said. "It took me forty years."

So I'll keep the paint and the canvasses

and the box of tiny paperworks in the loft

and when I die

(in a few years yet, please,)

the kids can burn the lot.

© Rachel Green April 2026