Poems

Cave Art – Our World

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Grotte Chauvet, in the South of France

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/horses-fresco/rQE_FzwjhB5e9Q

Mankind has been representing the world in two and three dimensions for 30,000 years and most probably further back in time.  These representations maybe realistic, or impressionistic, or simply patterns that have symbolic meaning.  Clearly some had religious or educational significance, but most certainly it was often just for viewing pleasure.  Creativity and artistry is inherently human.  Other creatures may be taught to play with paint and brush, other creatures may sway with music, some may be taught to sing, and birds may mimic a tune, but none create art.  None find it within their very being to produce something non-functional for the simple purpose of pleasing each other.  The cave art shown in the link above,  is offered as man’s first mural.  It is very good art and is quite remarkable when viewed in the context of time and as we ponder this intrinsic capacity of humankind.  As I’ve been sharing my poetic view of works of art, I thought it may be interesting to go back to a more primitive time and bring this art to life in poetry.  As I contemplated what to say, I wondered if these primitive artists and their patrons were not so different from us, connecting with the world with the tools and capabilities they had at hand.

 

Our World

There is no time
There is now and forever
There is all I’ve seen and done
For this is my life
I’ll show you on these walls
In this world that is for now home
With no limits, no boundary
Shared with these creatures I can draw
I give them life on these walls
Without me they have no name
It is I that can give them immortality
I that give them value
With my eye, my mind, my hand
As I was taught by my elders
And I will teach my young
It is who we are
It is who we’ll always be
It is our world, and we can create
It is in us, we are in part of it
It is our world
Come see, see what will be
Come see forever
Our world

 

 

 

Poems

Girl with a Pearl Earring

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More from Google Arts and Culture:
https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/girl-with-a-pearl-earring-johannes-vermeer/3QFHLJgXCmQm2Q

Johannes Vermeer c. 1665

Girl with a Pearl Earring

She glances my way
Translucent and ethereal
She touches my heart
With her oriental way
As her light illuminates
All that seems dark
Except her and her own
As it shines through
Because she noticed me
And let it run me through
And through
Just because, she says

Poems

The Starry Night

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Google offers an arts and culture online site that presents famous works of art in great detail for us to study.  I thought it would be an interesting challenge to write poems to accompany famous pieces of art.  A bit presumptuous I know, but oh well, it’s my blog site… so here’s my first attempt for the iconic Vincent Van Gogh painting The Starry Night, painted in 1889.

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/the-starry-night-vincent-van-gogh/bgEuwDxel93-Pg

Starry Night

A mind so demonstrably bright
Gazing with more than eyes into the night
Picturing what your soul must be
Broiling waves of light across a sea
Of stars that ripple down a hill
Like an avalanche of emotion and will
Allowing journey beyond horizon
To the stars and planets of Orion
The passions, the disturbances of rippled time
Supported by the calm of this village of thine
That warms us no matter the night cold
With the heat of passions and story told
Of the village home, that is sleepy and dark
While the soul does emphatically hark
To the desires of travel so far beyond
Where new experiences may be found
And along the way the colors, the proportion
The vividness of this creative mind’s notion
Projecting on who we will all become
Before it’s hidden again by the light of the sun

Blog

Transformational Times and Easter Sunday

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Every few generations, every 50 or 70 years, the world seems to present a seminal event that transforms who we are, that brings about the creativity and the initiative that is needed to move humanity toward a better future.  These seminal events always are painful, with great suffering, then we rise above it.  Jesus showed us the way two millennial ago, when he overcame great suffering and death to rise again and to teach us.  We are still commemorating this transformational gift to humanity today, even this very day!

So too, it is right for us to reflect on what presents as challenges today.  The suffering must change all of us.  These times present an opportunity to our next generation to bring science, math, testing, service, sacrifice, compassion, even humor in a creative and innovative way to problems we have previously ignored.  Problems with poverty, social/economic divides, politics, mythologies that affect the very survival and health of humanity.   We don’t know what the changes will be, but there will be change.  We don’t know what the lasting effects will be, but they will be there and they will be the legacy of the generation that is learning today about what things we must value.  Education, health, science of testing, of data, of modeling, and how and who pays to reconstruct our economies.  Maybe universal healthcare will be viewed differently when the bills come due for the battle being fought.  Maybe we’ll have a different understanding of the impact of improper nutrition and inadequate education on the communities that will pay the highest price in this pandemic.  Maybe we’ll value frontline warriors currently in this fight more generously.  Maybe those that are homeschooling will value anew the educators in our society.  Possibly we’ll have a renewed sense of what is important in our lives as we socialize at a distance.

But for sure we will change.  For sure our next generation will bring forth ideas and creativity and purpose and they will do it with more compassion and more love than some of us that came before.

Yes, there are profiteers, and scammers and others that evilly take advantage of this situation, just as there were soldiers casting lots for the garments of Jesus… but they will not fare well in the coming world and coming times.

I put my faith in the resurrection of humanity led by a new generation that is coming into awareness at this time.  A new generation that will transform our world in ways hard for us to imagine today.  But it will happen.  It must, for it is the history and legacy of humanity.  For every tragedy there is a response, an advancement, and I for one have great hope in humanity and our young adults that are truly amazing.

Happy Easter!

 

Poems

We must remember…

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We Must Remember

Gone is our time of innocence
Gone is our time of fearlessness
When our handshake was our bond
When a hug was the greeting of friends
And gone too is trust of leaders to protect
Us, not just their own political futures
When science has too few answers
Leaving room for conspirators and
For scammers to find prominence
Feeding on our fears and weaknesses
For we have many
And yet there rises above all of this
Some truth tellers that find their voices
Their purpose,
And doctors, and nurses and
Food deliverers and makers of
The tools that the frontline needs,
Who know it’s their time to shine
While we wait for a better time
They deliver with compassion
With kindness and courage
While we hope for normality
For they are our angels
And we need to reward them
With a new place in our world
For their nobility of service
And their sacrifice… and we will
By God remember them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Poems, Uncategorized

Butterflies

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Butterflies

Two butterflies flitted by in a dance
Possibly a game or maybe romance
Certainly a rebirth from something remote
As an angel unwrapped from an old ugly coat
And so they dance, in celebration of living
In a rebirth, in a new beginning
As a new spring is upon us and within us
As we will be reborn, with help of angels among us

 

 

Poems

It’s Raining…

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It’s raining this morning.
I like the sound of rain on the roof when there is nothing else to hear but the hum of the refrigerator, and the house is quiet.  Many would never notice the hum of a refrigerator, but it’s always there, it’s like cicadas that make sure nights are never silent.  Also there are the sounds of the refrigerator breathing, as temperature fluctuations, so slight, cause little creaks and moans, barely perceptible, because they are always there. Like the rustle of tiny lizards moving in the leaves, quick, then quiet, avoiding what they do not know, going where they do not know, just living.  Surviving as a species… as we are of course in the quiet of our homes, safe.  And the raindrops tickle lightly the roof overhead, never finding my head, my arms my body… safely listening from a distance.

Poems

Rush Hour… Survival…

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Survival

Birds share their song undisturbed
As if rush hour never existed
As if the sun rose for them
As if the wires were always theirs for resting
And it’s a song of life, of a future
As if there was no past
As if there was no need for more
Than the survival of the species

 

Blog, Poems

Hope…

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This is a crazy time, and to feel the stress and worry is normal, I certainly have experienced stress. But there is always hope.  There’s always hope in each other.

My mind is bouncing around today.  In part because I was thinking of all the changes we’ll experience in the world going forward, it is mind boggling.   I just read a part of an article about how things will change culturally, post pandemic, how much travel might change, for example.  It caused me to remember how much travel has changed in the last 40 years.  The early days of travel for me was very different than what we have experienced recently.  Then it was as if I was leaving planet home.  Calls were hotel room calls, that were expensive, there were no cell phones.  I remember that more than a couple of bucks of calls and you’d get called out by your boss for travel expenses.  I remember a boss telling me that he cannot understand how we could possibly spend more than $25 a day in meals… this was when we were traveling in the LA area.  All reservations, and ticketing and even maps were paper.  Do you know how to read a map, let alone fold a map?  I always had a file with me of stuff I might need.  Traveler Checks were even a thing.  Travel agents, their phone number and always some change for pay phones were vital if something went wrong. Now everything has been made easy, fluid, and connected.  We like to explore, and we can.  But will we after this? How long will it take for us to forget, to let our guard down?  We went from traveling half-way around the world on a whim, to not being able to visit friends for dinner at the restaurant on the corner.  What a crazy time.

But back to hope… It is what we must always keep, and hold precious.   Yes, everything changes, and certainly our world has changed more quickly than ever before.  But it is our option to look forward with hope.  Emily Dickinson was an amazing poet of the 19th century.  I read this poem, “Hope is the thing with feathers” and thought it is great, and we could all use a little more hope.  That little bird hope, that chirps in our souls and keeps us going at all times, keeping us positive.  It asks so little of us, and gives so much!

“Hope” is the thing with feathers – (314)

By Emily Dickinson

 “Hope” is the thing with feathers –
That perches in the soul –
And sings the tune without the words –
And never stops – at all –

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –
And sore must be the storm –
That could abash the little Bird
That kept so many warm – 

I’ve heard it in the chilliest land –
And on the strangest Sea –
Yet – never – in Extremity,
It asked a crumb – of me.

 

Blog, Poems

Virtually Exploring Art Museums…

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This morning, I’ve been thinking about, actually I’ve been exploring art and art museums virtually.  Clearly there is no possibility of travel, even to the local St. Petersburg museum of fine art, or others that are local such as the Ringling Art museum, and Dali Art museum.  However, there is amazing fine art to be viewed and museums with tours.  Some of the site’s I’ve visited this morning include https://artsandculture.google.com/project/art-camera

A google project that includes high resolution photos of paintings with an explanation of the approach that the artist was taking, and the spirit of the painting.  There is the cave art, the earliest art by man, explored and viewed at Chauvet, https://artsandculture.google.com/story/sgUB9Mfa0DpmPA

There are virtual tours also using the google street map technology, I found however that some of that was tedious and difficult to navigate, but I admire the intent and ambition to allow us to wander and browse from our couches.

David Morgan of CBS news posted a guide to museum virtual tours that I’ve done some exploring with. https://news.yahoo.com/virtual-museum-going-guide-socially-102021811.html

As I clicked thru on to the MET from this article, I found myself looking at the sculpture tour, called body language.  On the ‘Vine’ I found the video of an interpretive dance reflective of the statue, as well as description of the art.  Very interesting. https://www.metmuseum.org/art/online-features/viewpoints/the-vine

A painting featured here is a photo I took at the St. Petersburg Museum of Fine Art.

Painted in the 1830’s it is a pre-impressionist (like I really know what that means) piece that is brilliant, colorful, and even though it is not realistic, it seems to be alive.  This little girl of maybe five, alive forever, anxious to go play, but obedient to the artist, thinking not of any great future, but of only the moment, and the inspiration, or instinct for the next moment.  Bright and buoyant, captured forever, just at this moment.

Bright and Buoyant

My silent protest, I’m alive
Sitting for a moment I’m told
But I want to play, I’m five
Holding flowers, I’m bold
Of color, from the fire glow
Forever, I’ll be bright, and five
Forever here, I couldn’t know
Bright and buoyant and alive
Beyond this I’ll never show
A life beyond the age of five

My Stories, Poetry, Thoughts of the day