That Perfect Portrait

Looking at this collage, if I imagine myself as the kid in it, my favorite childhood memory would be something wild and messy—like sitting on the floor with a pile of broken crayons and magazine scraps, gluing pieces together until they made a face that didn’t look quite human but felt more me than any photo ever did. It’d be one of those afternoons where the light from the window hits just right, and you can hear the hum of the street outside, but you’re so deep in your own little universe that the rest of the world feels like static. The air smells faintly of glue, paper, and maybe cookies someone’s baking in the next room. And in that moment, everything—every strange color and mismatched piece—fits together perfectly, even if it shouldn’t. (Real painting made in 2020)