I began purchasing decrepit paintings
from thrift stores.
Possibly feeling sorry
for artist long forgotten
underappreciated
or long dead recipient.
Carefully removing frames
clean layers of grease
cigarette smoke
life’s depressing detritus
smiling as colors brighten
shapes grow sharper.
Touching up damaged parts
adding gamboling wraiths
in fields of lilac
a morose ghost
on an old porch swing
a shy Cthulhu
art deco party
It could be paint fumes
or the absinthe
I start seeing them
already altered
in second-hand stores.
A door has opened
or I am simply painting
by number what was yearning to be recognized.
Michelle Hartman is the author of four poetry books, four chapbooks, the most recent a winner of the John and Miriam Morris Memorial Chapbook Contest. Her work has appeared in Crannog, Galway Review, The Atlanta Review, Penumbra, Poem, Southwestern American Review, Carve and many more. She is the former editor of Red River Review, as well as the owner ofHungry Buzzard Press.