Sugar Red Promises

By Nancy Polo

Candy Canes are a hopeful thing, with their hypnotic bright red and white lines making promises that may or may not be kept. The first painting of the year feels like a bouquet of tightly wound resolutions. They will crack before unfurling from long hours at school, daily chores and other MUST DOS. I probably won't be able to keep it up each day-- these escapes into line, shape and luscious color. But let me dream on this first day of my fifty-first year, that I will keep all my promises to myself.