by Andrew Taylor-Troutman

“Who was I that I could hinder God?” – Acts 11:17

The primary colors — red, blue, yellow —
evenly spaced around the circle;
then, in between, the combinations
& hues of green, orange, purple.
It’s all so neat & simple;
straightforward, so easy to follow;
every color in its place,
each separate & segregated —

but stultifying and useless to artists
who paint not by theory, but by feel;
who dream, who prophesy, who intuit
beyond the socially accepted wheel,
and live what the Creator has spoken:
the rules are made to be broken.

Andrew Taylor-Troutman is the author of Gently Between the Words: Essays and Poems. He is the pastor and head of staff at Chapel in the Pines Presbyterian Church in North Carolina. These poems were originally written for Sunday worship services.