Portrait of a Family: Day 4

My mom loved to hang Chagall prints
Wherever she couldn't find the studs
My dad would laugh because
The stud is right here, baby!

But he didn't want the modernism
Deep swirls of gouaches that command intelligent commentary
What my dad loved were the offhand sketches
Graphite doodles on the back of cereal boxes

I would beg him for drawings like he was a children's clown
And I wanted a balloon dog
I want the Penguin from Batman, Daddy

And he would make it appear

Immaculately conceived in sharpie

I didn't commission his magnum opus, though
It was his most complex work: Four sharpies of different colors
One for each of us:
My mom, her curls scribbled in red
Him, a tall line in blue
My sister, like a little bobblehead in gray
And me, a swaddled baby in green

When my dad got bitter and lonely
And all he did was watch the dystopian news and go to the store

When my mom got surgeries and surgeries

And a lonely anger rooted itself deep in her

When my sister moved out
And took her warm peace-making with her

When I misplaced blame again and again
And got thorny and cruel

That nuclear family sat on the mantle

Four smiles preserved in a tasteful silver frame

Reminding us that our quartet used to play in harmony

Prompt: "In her poem, “Living with a Painting,” Denise Levertov describes just that. And well, that’s a pretty universal experience, isn’t it? It’s the rare human structure – be it a bedroom, kitchen, dentist’s office, or classroom – that doesn’t have art on its walls, even if it’s only the photos on a calendar. Today, we’d like to challenge you to write your own poem about living with a piece of art."