*Laurie Kolp Poetry*

What If
by Laurie Kolp

What if someone had called
the art work of Monet poor,
or the classic writings of
Emily Bronte nonsense
at the most impressionable,
sweet time of their lives-
childhood, the time when
words are taken at face
value and believed by our
future leaders; and

what if innocence is
squelched by a teacher’s
incomprehensible
demoralization
and a child’s confidence
melts like a piece of
forgotten chocolate
when she tells this
eight year-old child
his drawing is pitiful?

What if he could be the
next Picasso, but
never knows it
because he could
not make his chocolate
look like a Hershey
Kiss again? What if?