When Writers Meet Art
David Park, Three Bathers, 1959
Three Bathers
Ellen Brenneman
Young boys and artists
know one thing,
and know it for sure:
you can’t back down on a dare.
There comes a time
when you have to jump off the high dive,
or you might as well drown
in the misery that will be your life
if you don’t.
The artist, too,
comes to stand atop that cliff,
though no one else is standing by
to laugh and jeer.
Just the vision inside.
Just the truth that won’t wait
and won’t take no for an answer.
