Afresh, by Barbara Lydecker Crane

The Torn Hat, by Thomas Sully (USA) 1820

Afresh     

How patiently my young son sat, who knew
he might be scolded, having torn his hat.
And were his flaming cheeks a residue
of shame for harrying our backyard cat?
I didn’t ask, just had the rascal pose
right then in rumpled clothes–his little face
in dappled sunlight like a shadowed rose.
And as I worked, I hoped the marketplace
would see the same appeal I could perceive.   
My portrait sales of late had dropped away.
With seven children, I needed to achieve
success–to find a fresh approach. Portraying
winsome innocence in a girl or boy
would pay me twice. My dividend was joy.

Barbara Lydecker Crane

Barbara Lydecker Crane, a finalist for the 2017 and the 2019 Rattle Poetry Prize, has won awards from the Maria Faust Sonnet Contest, the Helen Schaible Sonnet Contest, and others. She has published three chapbooks: Zero Gravitas (White Violet Press, 2012), Alphabetricks (Daffydowndilly Press, 2013), and BackWords Logic (Local Gems Press, 2017). Her poems have appeared in Ekphrastic Review, First Things, Light, Lighten-Up-Online, Measure, Rattle, Think, Writer’s Almanac, and several anthologies.  She is also an artist.