The Touch, Alas (artwork chronological progression p7)

They have my life precharted,
One shore to another,
Decades to come, and I
Must sail buoy to buoy,
Connecting dots?
Season to season, celebration
No more expressive than
Calendar pages, houses of
Greeting cards, and voices
Of canned laughter, words empty
Of emotion: my future?

Happiness is defined, quite
Precisely, with underscored
Prohibitions, repugnant deviators,
And I shall live as did they.
Must I walk alone, beneath
Their scorn? If life could be,
As in a child's eyes, once more,
An ocean without boundaries,
Leviathans lurking beneath,
And at an unknown reach, an
Interminable cascade.... But alas,
We have called it round, and
Children must now walk the
Circle of life. I have been
Categorized, I have a price,
And marketable predictability.
My wedding will be white.
My funeral will be black,
and my life a gray area.

I am an adult, and they crouch,
Greedy to call me middle-aged,
To hurry my coffin. Books
Have been written on choices
I will make. Am I so
Predictable? They will label me:
"Free Spirit," and close my
File. Will I cry when I turn
Gray? I will live with the
Wood elves and they will place
A bounty on my head for
Each silver hair.

@blockurator encouraged me to share some of the poetry that I have written. So here it is.
The picture is my own artwork.
It is a pigment into wet paper wash in the background, after the squares had been taped off ahead of time.
The crystalline effects in the pigment are from salt being set onto the wet pigment as it dried.
The figures were drawn with art pens.

OK, you got me, the poem is not specifically about the artwork.
But it is from the same time period, and it shares the same sentiments that the image is based on: exasperation with a life that has rules and boundaries and expectations set out that often make no sense.
Please don't judge me for sounding trite after sharing a poem that a lot of thought went into but I have started sharing an art journey that is deeply tied into my personal life, and I'm going to continue sharing that journey but also need to respect the privacy of other people.
I can't say specifically who these women are and why they met in such a manner.
Life is not a box.
Neither is love, nor is art.
Life is meetings and greetings, goodbyes and farewells, and every step forward that we take might be sunshine, or it could be heartbreak.
We still keep living.
We still keep daring.
If we live rationally we might manage a more predictable life, but it will lack color and richness.
If we let our heart lead our decisions, it will be an exhilarating but terrifying ride; we will be broken and rejoicing, crying and laughing, often at the same time.
I value love and friendship so much because I have felt betrayal and loneliness.
I said in my last art progression post that I would tell you how I would " take those vicious reality bites and find a way to turn them into inspiration and a part of a creative process as well."
This is how: through poetry and art.
Creativity is cathartic.
Thank you for following me on this journey.

Previous post in this series: https://steemit.com/art/@corpsvalues/the-start-of-my-figurative-drawing

Do you have pencil, paper, and a thought in your head? Then you can cartoon!
Be sure to enter my weekly cartooning contest #cartoon-off. Otherwise, try to stop by and support the talented contributing cartoonists! We have a great blend of first time cartoonists and veterans!
9SBD in prizes, 3 categories.
https://steemit.com/cartoon-off/@corpsvalues/third-weekly-cartoon-off-contest-guest-judge-veryspider

The weekly cartoon contest is sponsored by @corpsvalues, in the spirit of giving back to the Steemit community and fostering growth.
@corpsvalues is a US military veteran who does artwork to promote discussion and healing to those involved in wars, and is an avid cartoonist and writer. He does all of his own artwork in his posts, which range in topic from comic to tragic. He firmly believes that artwork is for everyone, backed by studies that have shown how artwork builds and mends neural pathways in our brains. For him, this competition is a mission to bring as many people as possible into visual creativity and foster the continued work of those already doing it.