Balance

A statement arrives, shuffles, and ascends.  It is opened;
a child assails it with a pen.  You find a moment and frown
a checkmark by spending activities that match your ledger. 
Black circles corral any numerical departures. 

By calculator I attempt to interpret the scrawl, to pierce
the marrow of figures, but previous and present balances
are stark like Picasso’s later work.  Don Quixote
on a scribble horse is a depiction more likely to be parsed.   

Tags: art, budget, budgeting, calculator, checkbook, Don Quixote, horse, ledger, Picasso, spending