Today’s Poem

Paint by Number

Make sure you’ve got a clean
brush. I’ve already primed
the canvas and outlined
everything you need.
Now don’t forget to keep
a fresh, damp cloth nearby.
Some of you will see a ship
clearing the rocks, but still
about to tip. Others find Jesus
ghosted in light blue, the shape
shadows make, and covered
not in a shroud, but in numbers.
This is a one-handed, lonely
equivalent of a sing-along.
I’ve seen your earlier work:
ink spots cloaking Caesar’s
assassins. The Vermont boat-
house marked by a missing
set of oars and the birds circling.
Lies of omissions, are. You can
get this wholesale as a commodity,
like negative space or the rearranging
of a warm bed. Even the wine
I’m drinking tastes like it was made
yesterday from a full color photo
of an old man with a handful of grapes.

-Jason Braun