The Quality of Finger-Painting

Finger-painting is the quality
of not worrying about the mess
on your clothes, hands and face,
and sharing the happiness
of the child with whom you’re finger-painting.

Finger-painting is being a cave-dweller,
doing what comes naturally,
while unleashing your inner Picasso, 
Kandinsky or Miro, 
even throwing a little paint like Pollock.

Finger-painting rediscovers the child in you,
broadens the mind and stretches the imagination 
until it snaps – explodes into colour
and facilitates all kinds of expression, 
and emotion, for young and old.
 
Finger-painting is freestyle poetry without a pen.
It’s an exploration of metaphor and simile
without words. No matter how grumpy 
you may be, it will always make you smile,
but it can bring some parents out in a rash.

Finger-painting is really…
handprints on paper and flowerpots,
and sometimes on walls. It’s blobs 
and splashes, snap dragons, trees, 
wonky elephants and blossom on the breeze.

Kim M. Russell, 6th June 2023

Image by Phil Hearing on Unsplash

I’m hosting Poetics over at the dVerse Poets Pub with some Quality Poems inspired by Australian poet Les Murray’s poem entitled ‘The Quality of Sprawl’, which is based on a kind of list of his personal definitions of the word ‘sprawl’.

The challenge is to write a poem on the quality of something – not ‘sprawl’- using the same format of title: ‘The Quality of…’ and emulating the format of the poem by starting each stanza with ‘[Word] is/does’. If you like my poem and the prompt, come along and join us.

52 thoughts on “The Quality of Finger-Painting”

  4. This is incredibly GORGEOUS, Kim! 😍 I especially admire; “Finger-painting is freestyle poetry without a pen. It’s an exploration of metaphor and simile without words.” Yes! ❤️❤️

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    1. Thank you, Sanaa! I’m waiting for the prompt to go live – I couldn’t find it on Mr Linky but that’s because I set it up quite a while ago. I hope poets don’t find it too challenging.

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  5. I love how fun and delightful this finger painting is Kim. Free style poetry without pen – perfect. That last stanza says it all -freedom on paper, prints and walls.

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  6. Kim, you’re taking me back to when my sons were youngsters. The teachers had them using chocolate pudding on paper. I also remember my kids sitting outside in mud and the happiness on their faces. ❤

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  7. Yes! Sometimes on walls. As an early childhood educator, I adored watching them fingerpaint and I loved your poem. You have really captured the freedom of movement and expression, so vital for this age group. It’s the process, not the product. It would be wonderful if all parents and grandparents were on board, at least to honour the creations upon the fridge.

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    1. Thank you so much, Mish! I loved finger-painting with Lucas but he’s more interested in numbers and chess now that he’s five years old, so I’ll have to wait until Louie is older – he’s 7 months old now so I suppose that isn’t too far off – time flies, especially as I live a couple of hundred miles from them.

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  11. Such happiness.❤️❤️

    I like the ending very much, too—
    “handprints on paper and flowerpots,
    and sometimes on walls. It’s blobs
    and splashes, snap dragons, trees,
    wonky elephants and blossom on the breeze.”

    Side note: if finger painting is freestyle poetry without a pen then my poem is a mess.🤣

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  18. Beautiful and fun poem, Kim! It definitely brings back memories of finger-painting with my kids. They painted themselves more than anything lol!

    Your metaphor about finger-painting being “free-style poetry without a pen” also made me think I’m “finger-painting” while typing out poetry with my thumbs on a phone. In fact, I’m going to call it just that now. Thanks! 😁❤️

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