A MANIFESTO FOR JOY: for anyone who forgot they were an artist

You don’t need a permission slip,

or a majestic diploma

tied up in ribbons

and handed to you

by a jaded man

in a crumpled suit.

Listen to your cravings.

Step into your colours.

You may have a ball of wool

tucked away,

calling you,

waiting to be turned into something cozy.

Does the thick pad of watercolour paper,

forlorn in some bottom drawer,

keep beckoning?  –

a gift from someone wishing you well,

someone who remembered the joy you once felt

with a paintbrush and watercolours

before whatever happened, happened.

Write something.

Let your thoughts flow,

jumbled, messy, ugly, wild.

Pick a word – any word –

and write a poem in ten minutes.

Set fear aside and jump into

you.

There is no right or wrong way.

There are no rules.

There is only your intuition,

your sensitivities,

likes and dislikes.

Set yourself free through creativity.

Open your floodgates to joy.