Back to the Drawing Board

An acrostic poem exploring the theme of perfectionism and the halo effect playing a struggling artisan like a fiddle.

"Back to the Drawing Board" is comprised of three stanzas and 17 lines. While it is chiefly free-verse, the poem is written in acrostic style, which classifies poems that have a formulated word using the first letter of the first word of each line. You can make out the words "Drawing Board Cycle" which is related to the overall idea or gist of the poem.

"Back to the Drawing Board" revolves around an ambitious, painstaking and self-critiquing artisan who decides to draw a self portrait on a board. He does this mostly to impress people by producing a perfect drawing, not mindful of the experience and expression behind drawing a self portrait. His despair becomes orchestrated due to his mentality and self to self conflict. At last, he prevailed over the notion of wearing the halo and moved on from the drawing he was intending to make.

The artisan's identity is tied to his pursuit for perfection in his art. His relationship with perfection shapes his identity as it influences his actions. Moreover, his relationship with the portrait is father and son like as he wants the absolute best out of his portrait while being critical, ultimately leaving the portrait to carry itself.