May 2010 • You Are Seen

Note: This was written on May 6th – but just getting around to posting it.

The first lines of a quick sketch open up a 360 degree field
which, once opened, takes on a life of its own. I saw some
new line art at MIchele and Rick’s Harborview yesterday
and something in me got touched that went beyond words,
took me to a place that felt familiar, as yet unlived.
Confusing? Here’s a poem that carries a clue:

“FROM THE START

Who did I think was listening

when I wrote down the word

in pencil at the beginning

words for singing

to music I did not know

and people I did not know

would read them and stand to sing them

already knowing them

while they sing they have no names ”

……………..W.S. MERWIN
from his book of poems, The Shadow of Sirius.

Thank you, Rebecca Bryan, for the music of your art work,
now on view at Harborview. Merwin did not use a period
to the end of any of his poems, leaving room for whatever
the words and thoughts surfaced for any who looked.
Your spare line and provocative titles leave such an
opening.

Always with love,
Mom/Mimi/Toni/Antoinette

There is a poetry of ideas that arises out of a freedom to share.
After all is boiled away, after the efforts of a lifetime, still on-going,
the statement of a truth is poetry.

Of course, truth is a relative country to explore. So, I offer this
as an honor to collaboration:

FROM A MUSICIAN ……
“I love collaboration, because I know that people
have gone down a path that I’ve never been
down so I’m hungry for their knowledge. Let’s
compromise, let’s negotiate, let’s collaborate,
let’s participate and get the best out of both of us.

Music is an echo —a dead-set echo that goes
back to day one in the human race.”

……….JIMMY LITTLE, New South Wales, Australia,
radio, Grand Ole Opry tour, film, television. mentor to
Aboriginal people.
…………………………………………………………………………….

FROM AN ACTOR ……
“Collaboration doesn’t work when you hang on to
your vision as if it’s what God is waiting to hear and
learn from. But a good collaboration is when you’re
willing to sacrifice and throw your own view out
for something that more exciting, more cohesive,
or more interesting.”

………ALAN ARKIN, film and Broadway actor, writer
of science fiction and children’s books.
……………………………………………………………………………..

I found the above quotes in a delightful little book called “WISDOM”,
with a subtitle of “Ideas”, compiled by Andrew Zuckerman.

Can’t resist, just one more:
“Far more interesting than problems is problem creation.”

………CHUCK CLOSE, artist

Yeah!

Always with love,
Mom/Mimi/Toni/Antoinette

You Are Seen

Month: May 2010

EASING IN

NOT RHYME, NOR REASON