Outside the Lines

Photo and Poem by Tom Hooten

She struggles, squinting, tongue twisting,

tiny fingers inexpertly on a crayon.

Make it stay in the lines.

But the colors flow from

imagination as yet unrestrained,

bubbling up from evolution’s workshop,

straying every which way,

creating beauty unrecognized.

She cries. I can’t make it pretty.

Tears wash the waxy images,

blurring the fleeting magic -

magic that wanes in a childhood

devoid of praise and pride.

Can her imagination live beyond

its brief childish innocence,

to create with paint, marble, words, music -

to power a life outside the lines?

Maybe

Just pay attention.

Kiss away the tears and shout,

I love how you color all round the lines.

That’s the prettiest picture there ever was!

She will smile,

a smile empowering blossoming fantasies

laughing as they cross the lines.

Maybe, she’ll glow and grow,

not limited to up...

TOM HOOTEN received his Master’s Degree in Physiological Psychology from Auburn University, was a pilot in the U.S. Air Force (retired), and had a second career as a Human Resources Director. He has published two scientific research papers (co-authored), a science fiction novel, Hollytime, an essay, "The Physics of Fidget Energy," and several poems. He is in sunny Florida working on Alicetime, the sequel to Hollytime.