Oil on Canvas, by J.W. Surface

Lamppost on Bromwich Parade by Philip Halling, CC BY-SA 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Oil on Canvas 
after Constance Richardson’s Streetlight, 1930 

Constance, 
I know nothing about you, 
Yet somehow you painted
The noir of my soul. 
 
In your shadows: 
The comfort of darkness.  
Not fear. Not pain. 
Just Nostalgia.
The good ole days, 
Which I never saw.
 
In that look:
Innocent 
Expectations.
Total security.
At ease,
Hopeful. 
 
In that smoke:
Slow calm.
Release, 
After a day.
Observing its end, 
Waiting for another to begin.

J.W. Surface 

This photography, however beautiful, is not the image that inspired this poem. Click here to view the artwork, Streetlight, by Constance Richardson.

J. W. Surface emerged from the University of Indianapolis in 2013. Currently, he teaches mathematics to brilliant high school students during the day, and writes poetry and fiction at night. He is indebted to God for blessing him with these two rewarding passions, and to his wife for putting up with his consistent, strange nonsense. His poetry has appeared in Etchings Magazine. You can follow him on Goodreads.com. ​