Painting Flowers
“Pinto flores para que así no mueren.”
“I paint flowers so they don’t die.”
-Frida Kahlo
When I paint flowers
they become immortal
living forever on a canvas
the purest white and brightest yellow
When I paint trees
they too are everlasting
pausing in an infinite moment of time
when the leaves are perfect
oranges reds and yellows
I recently began painting people
and find myself reaching
for the brown shades of hair
and the blues of eyes
Finding a place
“Donde no puedas amar, no te demores"
“Where you can’t love, don’t stay too long.”
- Frida Kahlo
Don’t stay too long
with any person or thing
in any place or situation,
where you cannot love
Find your place
--find yourself--
search for what you love
and do not settle until you find it
Do not put a time limit on love
you can find your passion at 5 or 85
the feeling will be the same either way
Find what feels like breathing to you
something you have to do
that is where you should stay
Pain as a Talisman
"El arte más poderoso de la vida es hacer del dolor un talismán que cura. ¡Una mariposa renace florecida en fiesta de colores!"
“The most powerful art is to make pain a talisman that cures. A butterfly is reborn in a festival of colors!”
- Frida Kahlo
Take the heartbreak, stressors, and defeat
paint them on a canvas
have them written into a poem
drawn on a piece of scrap paper
sung in a song
strummed on a guitar
made into a character
where they will be given a new life
outside of your mind
Turn what hurts into what cures
make pain into a talisman
Wings to Fly
“Pies, ¿Para qué los quiero si tengo alas para volar?”
“Feet, what do I want you for when I have wings to fly?
- Frida Kahlo
With a paintbrush for my passport
colors as a plane
and a blank canvas as my world
I can travel anywhere my mind allows
Vibrate green white and red
sweep the canvas
and the tricolor takes me to Mexico
I am able to exist in two places at once
my mind in one location
my body in another
with only a paintbrush in hand
Davynn Roberts is a 19 year old student attending Wesley College, where she is majoring in Elementary and Special Education. In her free time, she releases her creative energy by painting, drawing, and writing poetry. Davynn has recently found a passion for writing epigraphs using quotations from influential people, such as Frida Kahlo. This is her first publication for poetry.