Poetry

Watercolor Dreams

“Watercolor Dreams”

 

You shouldn’t become that, there’s no money in that career.

It’s impossible to follow your dreams

when waves

of doubts

crash relentlessly against you

suffocating in uncertainty 

your life is shackled

 by money

it dictates everything you do 

every breath, every step

whether you are aware of the confines or not

 

A small child

Naive and wide-eyed

With watercolor dreams

“I want to be an artist when I grow up”

An innocent dream, uttered by the shielded

“but how will you make 

 money?”

 

It’s always follow your dreams until the dream doesn’t involve success 

emotional wealth will never equate to

material wealth

as passion doesn’t pay the bills

 

That child grows

changes paths

a teenager

puts down their art supplies 

puts away their watercolor fantasies

too old to dream

 

but whenever they look to the future

they see a career

beaming with creativity 

counselors preach 

parents urge

to do what will make you happy in the future

 

now they have changed but it

is too late

That kid is driven not by passion but by profit

how can you say follow your dreams when the dream has already drowned

 

there is no money in art

“why aren’t you taking an art course anymore?”

Why do you think?

Society has made it impossible to continue pursuing a dream that is moneyless

what gives you the right to tell me to follow my dreams

If you too are submerged by money

why do you want to go into the medical field?

 money

why do you want to go into the law field?

 money

why don’t you want to be a designer, a creator, an artist?

 money

 

it was 

you shouldn’t be an artist 

and now it is 

you can’t be an artist

because there is no way you can live without financial success 

no living without material results

 

Dreams are buried under bags of money

inaccessible

And you tell me to chase them 

dig them up with blistered hands, tainted with green

But how can you pursue something that is already six feet under

 

Tell me

how can one dream 

when self-worth is measured by net worth

skill; based on coin over creativity

and dollars outweigh dreams

how can one aspire when

there’s no money in that career

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