Artist identify things that are being experienced consciously or unconsciously by their audience, like putting a melody or face to it.
For the painting (Desert Spring 72 x 58 x 1.5" o/c) I've submitted, my inspiration comes from my experience in West Texas, at a place I visit frequently. A place where I used to consider the edge of the desert I now consider a desert.
Someone spilled a drop of me
and now I'm everywhere,
immersing pebbles on the shore,
scaring nesting plovers,
boring their endangered chicks
with unasked-for confessions
that I was young once too,
that I can't fly either,
that I startle myself
when I glimpse my face in the mirror.
The arts are important because we express the beauty of being human within it. That capability of creating out of ideas and materials is precious. And I believe that this is what constitutes us, or better, what defines us. Maybe some people do this job in somehow more expressive and outstanding manner. Still, the creative process begins its motion every time that we look at the sky, we pay attention to a human expression, or we care about Nature. It is precisely there when the magic begins.
When I was twelve, I walked along the sea
As if a mermaid, not a lonely child
The motion of the waves commanded me
The changing of the tides could drive me wild
Eden, as an idea, is woven into the fabric of human existence. The idea of home and sanctuary cross cultures. Navigating across seas, through forest, over mountains, along sandy shores to collectively reside as a longing in our hearts. In my Eden, I walk the labyrinth of a unique place, a water world sparkling in nostalgia of her decadent past. Sunlight greets moonlight dancing along the tide, keeping me buoyed.
The space above the earth
is not separate
from the space beneath its surface
It was not separate
before the earth was born
it is not separate now
though I will no doubt take One breath
and attempt to divide it into two
Nor will it be separate
once this land is no more
and God will perhaps Sighhhh
and release me in Her breath
I love hiking in the woods, listening to bird songs and seeing different shades of greens, yellows and reds in the vegetation. It’s a time to be with other species and appreciate the multitude forms of life that allows our planet thrive. There was also a rare moment in the city of Shanghai when a squirrel suddenly landed on my hand as I was walking on the street. It was a split second of touch, yet a true moment of intimacy (the paws pressed on my skin) felt from our kin. Life is a planetary phenomenon, and its biodiversity is something I don’t wish and we can’t afford to lose. We need to rebuild our kinship with life on earth that’s deeply rooted in evolutionary time and understand our place as a node in the mesh of the more-than-human world.
The God Eros is the god of passion, love, and eroticism in Greek mythology. It represents the “life drive,” and probably everyone has heard of it. Perhaps the god Thanatos - god of death - won't be as well-known; and he was, and continues to be, my great interest, so I dedicated most of my study to him. Not to be confused with Hades, the god of the dead. Thanatos inspired Sigmund Freud, who determined that all instincts fall into one of two main classes: the life instincts or the death instincts. The Life Instincts (Eros) are those that deal with basic survival, pleasure, and reproduction. Regarding the Death Instinct (Thanatos), Freud proposed that “the goal of all life is death.” He concluded that people have an unconscious desire to die, but that this desire is largely tempered by life instincts. In Freud's view, self-destructive behavior is an expression of the energy created by death instincts. When this energy is directed outward, and toward others, it is expressed as aggression and violence.
By John Compton
i imagine john ashbery reading my book instead of dying
john ashbery laid my book
on his desk, his face
aligned with the cover.
his fingers stitched neatly,
binding his hands.
his eyes extending their reach.
he sat, soundlessly,
listening to david, in the other room,
gather produce for a vegetable soup.
the pantry door creaked gently,
dropping a poem into the air.
he breathed, a subtle groan—
the sound of preparing.
john lingered at the title page,
letting the poems simmer:
a breath caught in his cheek.
he slid his finger across trainride,
met the corner of the page,
& turned to “felicity.”
he understood the mathematical equation
referencing a blowjob.
his smile creased like a dog-ear.
●●●●●
inanimate stranger
i scout a pocket
to inhabit. the room
renders listless.
my mind distends with displeasure.
every second trickles. water
slurs through the glass.
air is soaking
with the smell. in the road
the dog is as heavy
as my pen.
he is a chattel
of my imagination. a meager
creature to the yellow
lines. the chatter behind me
becomes anonymous.
a girl shrieks. her flushed
face speaks
for her humane mouth.
//
a man
kisses a lady
in a photograph.
their white frowzy hair
speaks depths
about their happiness.
●●●●●
since the world is war
writing poetry
reincarnated
his country.
he records new cities
while watching
buildings
become rubble.
he sounds out
gunfire,
turns the music
of warheads
down.
he witnesses
children die—
he watches mothers
weep, ripped apart, then
die.
he scrutinizes men
with power,
wanting to be gods,
becoming gods.
//
he tries to ignore
the corpus mountain
that accumulates
outside his window
because in his nightmares
ominous stares
haunt him—
dead eyes
never close—
there, the deceased rise.
The Creative Process: Podcast Interviews & Portraits of the World’s Leading Authors & Creative Thinkers
Inspiring Students – Encouraging Reading - Connecting through Stories
The Creative Process exhibition is traveling to universities and museums. The Creative Process exhibition consists of interviews with over 100 esteemed writers, including Joyce Carol Oates, Hilary Mantel, Neil Gaiman, Viet Thanh Nguyen, Tobias Wolff, Richard Ford, Junot Díaz, Marie Darrieussecq, Michel Faber, T.C. Boyle, Jay McInerney, George Saunders, Geoff Dyer, Etgar Keret, Douglas Kennedy, Sam Lipsyte, and Yiyun Li, among others. Artist and interviewer: Mia Funk.
