One Blade of Green
By Mike Penner

With crowquills and India ink long ago he blacklined portraits of abandoned houses
bound by black blades of grass

Color was not a part of his life

Forsaken houses his only subjects
Once homes
Homes once built on foundations of hope
Now neglected ruined wrecked forgotten

All hope abandoned

Inked those portraits for years
Drawing each one straight through to completion
Never stopping until the final stroke had been drawn from the quill
Never understanding why the quill never dropped ’til done

Never understanding the obsession
Never understanding why he drew nothing else
or why the portraits gave him such black satisfaction

Until one day sitting quietly
Looking at his latest drawing
Suddenly
He knew why he drew the abandoned homes
Why they obsessed him

… they were portraits of himself

But today is a different day a brighter day
If today he drew abandoned homes
among the black blades of grass
he would ink in
one blade of green

– Mike Penner lives in Lawrence.