my art project stared back at me.

it was time to hand in

and i somehow felt attached to it.

it held my brushwork

my time

and effort

but also my emotions

everything i’d put into the memory of my mother.

everything that had formed my vision of her.

i placed the paper onto the pile of completed artworks

for the teacher to mark

and sat back down at my desk.

the year was almost over now

only one month left until new year.

i stared outside at the snow falling

imagining being

the snowflake floating down

alive a few minutes

then melted as if never there.

i thought of my mother as a snowflake

cold but beautiful

floating
       down
            to her
                 inevitable

end.

i wondered if i was the same

but i felt more like the snow

that was walked on by others

melting in the sun

then freezing again at night

black from the dirt.

but Midori had swept me up and

made me into something beautiful

and i hoped it hadn’t all gone to waste.