I Smile
Locations
I feel the soft fabric
Between my fingers.
Colors everywhere,
Reds, greens, blues,
Flowers, circles, trees,
Patterns swirling around me.
I smile and think
How great it would be
To do this every day
And get paid to create.
I smooth the clay with my fingers,
Its slippery surface molding in my hands.
The clay goes from cold and wet
To warm and flexible
As I sculpt the monster’s teeth
And add his long horns across his back I smile.
Someday, I will be sculpting this exactly,
Though so much bigger
And it will fit onto a person’s face.
I apply the shades
Light purples, teals, pinks,
Onto my eyelids before me.
I paint on the delicate lipstick.
I step back and smile
At the girl who is transformed before me.
It looks hardly anything like me,
As I stare at the dress I have created,
The elaborate wig atop my head,
Each little accessory something
Only I have created.
I smile as I realize that someday
It will not be a mirror I will look at
But a model, an actor, another person
Dressed in a costume I created,
Each stitch, each stroke, each detail
Hardly noticeable to the naked eye
But incredibly important.
I smile because I know someday,
I could be called across the great stage
To accept an Academy Award
For best costume designer,
Or to be a name in a list of people
Up on the big screen.
And someday be paid
To create what I love.