Ish by Peter Reynolds

Ramon loved to draw. He would draw anytime, any day, any place. Nothing could stop him and his love of drawing – that is, until his older brother Leon criticized his drawing of a vase of flowers.

Ramon was so upset. He tried to move on and get past it, but when he tried to draw, he only saw mistakes.

The little light in his heart, the same heart that had been so full of love for drawing, slowly flickered out. Crumpled paper, filled with all of his mistakes, littered the floor.

After some time had passed, Ramon noticed his sister Marisol watching him. Annoyed with his sister, he yelled at her to go away. She grabbed a piece of crumpled paper off the floor and ran upstairs.

He ran after her, and was about to start yelling at her, when he fell silent. Marisol had covered her walls
with Ramon’s drawings, and had fashioned a bona fide art gallery of his discarded art work.

Marisol pointed to his discarded drawing of a vase, and said, “This is one of my favorites.”

“That was supposed to be a vase of flowers,” Ramon said, “but it doesn’t look like one.”

“Well, it looks vase-ISH!” she exclaimed.

Ramon studied all of his other drawings on her wall that he’d discarded. His drawings did look.. .ISH!

He began drawing the world around him again. And the drawings in his notebook looked tree-ish, house-ish, boat-ish, fish-ish, sun-ish.

He felt peace-ish.

This is a story of hope, and resilience of the human spirit - amidst all of the forces that try to snuff it out.

Keep burning brightly my friends.

Reviewed by Jeneka Ossa