Vandals - April 20 2022

 

Vandals

April 20 2022

Vandals

spray-painted the wall.

A blank windowless monolith

is now a shock of colour

that irresistibly draws the eye;

and whether fascinated

or repelled

no one doesn't look.

Rectangular offices

the grid of city streets.

Laws against littering

and strict building codes.

We are comforted by order,

and the good people

who pay their taxes

and cut their lawns

and come to full stops

instead of rolling through the signs,

are alarmed;

anarchy is threatening

non-conformity offends.

But like the stained glass window

you didn't notice,

that when the light is right

and you take your time

and the choir's high note swells,

is suddenly transformed

into something divine,

this vandalized wall

becomes a piece of art as well.

Outsider art,

by the firebrands

and alienated young,

the frustrated artists

who use what canvas they can,

have created beauty

from their unbridled anger

and unexpressed angst.

Empty cans

scattered on the sidewalk,

cryptic tags on the wall.

Images

of beauty, and horror

and stories untold.

The city painted over it

in a shade of off-white.

But the colour's bleeding through.

And every night

new graffiti appears;

anonymous artists

who are bursting to have their say.

Whose need to create

is as basic as breathing,

as human as making art.