Before the first drop

A canvas waits for its naked body to be clothed.

Tins of paint wait to be mixed into a colorful symphony.

The conductor holds her paintbrush.

The spectators hold

Alright, starting off with the royal purple-oh wait, this shade’s way too dark; it’ll drown out the maroon I’m adding later. The painting needs to be drenched in maroon to show the pain of the little girl-

Or should it be an older man?

The painting might have a greater impact if the subject’s a little girl. But it makes more sense that someone with 70+ years of life experience would be suffering from great emotional torment.

But what torment exactly? Grief would be cliché; it’s been depicted too many times before.

Goddamn, that’s what this whole painting is...cliché and predictable. I’ve already done paintings before I should’ve gone with a sculpture-a kinetic sculpture better yet. Oh gosh, I’m taking too long. The audience is waiting for something spectacular, never seen before, not cliché. Geez I’ve already used cliché like ten times, don’t I have a wider vocabulary? Maybe predictable? No, I’ve used that as well. Platitude? Nope, I sound like a wannabe poet who read one Jane Austen novel. Banal? Gosh, no, that sounds a lot like-

their breath

as they wait for the first drop to transform into the Sistine Chapel.