Art class

In darker moments I drew spiders
Multiplying legs twisted
Grey dull like shadows
Miniature creations from a pencil smudge

My teacher disapproved
With nasal tones and a chin of warts
My surreal and abstracted world
Could find no place
Between the Art degree of still life
Potted plants and wine bottles
The obligatory red rose

I loved the pencil
Craved its power like a thing possessed
On the paper I wanted only to see
My dreams and thoughts
Born from my own hands
Become a visual permanent reality

The Art exam was destroying for the soul
Imagination suppressed I sketched
On a white lace table cloth
Stood the dusty bottles and hateful potted plant
Duplicated by a dozen hands
Photographs of charcoal for the judges to grade

In darker moments I drew spiders
With a craft knife I drew my despair