water towers


walking
 to the Farmer's Market two Sundays ago
 I walked across West 78th Street
 it is in my opinion
 one of the prettiest streets
 on the UWS
see
 that water tower?
 see
 that sky?
 its green
 because of the 'film' and 'lens' combo of the Hipstamatic app
 I was using
 but 
waaaay
 back
 when
 I attended the High School of Art and Design
 I had a teacher
 who assigned us the task of painting a cityscape
 we could paint from memory
 or 
we could look out the window and paint what we saw
  I opted for memory

 I gesso'd/primed
 the canvas 
with a color green
 not unlike the color of the sky
 in this photo
 and
 then 
painted in
 the stark greys
 of the urban landscape
 the high rises
 the office towers
 but
 in my mind
 in the world of my painting
 there was a rainy feel
 to me the sky needed to be green
my teacher 
stopped at my desk to see how my painting was progressing 

when, he asked, did you ever see a green sky?
  I tried to explain
 about
 how the sky looks to me 
when
 the color of light
 takes on 
that just rained look

 he said
 there's no such thing as a green sky
 repaint it 

 I refused

he told me 
he would be speaking to the dean
  he did
 and
 the dean called my mother
 when my dad came home that evening 
she told him 
he was going in to speak to the dean
 she had gone to school every year up to that point
 but she wasn't going again
 she expected him to handle it

  yes
 I was a troublesome student
 I am sure you are all surprised

not

   anyway
 dad met with the dean
 they agreed
 while there are not green skies
 the teacher was wrong 
to impose his views on a student
 after all
 aren't we supposed to be artists 
learning 
expressing
 our visions?

  I was also told
 that I wasn't to talk back
 I am not sure how long that lasted 
but 
I can tell you
 neither of my parents 
were ever called into school after that 

I am still able to see the color of light differently 

 now you can see it too