Creativity
Tabula Not Raza
I am not sure I exist, actually. I am all the writers I have read, all the people that I have met, all the women that I have loved; all the cities I have visited.~Jorge Luis Borges As any engaged parent of multiple children can attest, being born with a Tabula Raza, a blank slate […]
The Source is Within
The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science. Whoever does not know it can no longer wonder, no longer marvel, is as good as dead, and his eyes are dimmed.~Albert Einstein In a group of people, I […]
Becoming Fully Human
I wonder, if like Abbey, I need the West in order to breathe deeply and to dream magnificently?~Sean Prentiss I have been saddled with an angst for most of my cognizant life that I’m not where I am supposed to be thus can never realize the destiny of who I am supposed to be, to […]
Art Defeats Shitstorms
Life is a shitstorm, in which art is our only umbrella.~Mario Vargas Llosa At first blush, I heartily agree with the statement life is a shit storm but was not enamored as much with the claim art is our only umbrella. I can’t see how anyone could navigate the toilet of life without stumbling into […]
Transitions of Consciousness
I find myself slowly divesting of human encumbrances, letting them fall away as leaves depart the ancient board-leafed trees come autumn and the dwindling daylight. I think it is my soul preparing my mind for the long rest, the perpetual sleep. Like many of my profound thoughts, this one manifested in my consciousness when the […]
A Daunting Emptiness
Is there anything more daunting to a writer as a blank page, to a painter as a virgin canvas? The sculptor works with a block of stone with the goal of releasing the being within. Whereas the blank page or virgin canvas are simply voids. The being released is the soul of the writer or […]
Exile By Choice
Those who don’t belong to any specific place can’t, in fact, return anywhere. The concepts of exile and return imply a point of origin, a homeland.~Jhumpa Lahiri I used to proudly belong to a place. Belonging, for a long time, gave me a measure of comfort, a sense of safety, a bed worn precisely to […]
The Imposter
He who claims to be sure of something for which there is no evidence is a fool, and he who acts on the basis of what cannot be proved is an imposter. ~Han Fei I desperately want to be an artist, to be recognized by the public as a creator of art, to be inextricably […]
Creating Death
How are you supposed to know? Fucking men like you built the hydrogen bomb. Men like you thought it up. You think you’re so creative. You don’t know what it’s like to really create something; to create a life; to feel it growing inside you. All you know how to create is death and destruction….~Sarah […]
To Not Create Is to Die
Destroy the idea you gotta be good at artistic things to enjoy them, that every hobby has to become something you’re so good at, you can monetize it. A capitalist lie. Sing offkey, draw badly. Life is meant to be enjoyed, not monetized. You’re NOT a product.~Jen is #redforkashmir For the first time in decades, […]
Asymptote to Emptiness
You’ve been so longWell it’s been so longAnd I’ve been putting out fire with gasoline.~David Bowie Allow gasoline to sit in an open-air container long enough and it loses its flammability. Not even a match will cause it to ignite. Stay my hand from putting ink to paper long enough and my creativity is rendered […]
Creativity Vampired
I am feeling exsanguinated of creativity. The long Winter vampired all creative juices from my system leaving a near lifeless hulk gasping for air. I was thinking there might be some depression roaches crawling ‘neath my skin until I remembered my personal depression results, like euphoria, in a volcanic spewing of created output. But, my […]
Capitalistic Madness
You are only given a little spark of madness.You mustn’t lose it. ~Robin Williams I’ve long understood children are born with a free spirit creative bent that is so strong it takes eight-plus years of formal schooling to douse the spark kindling within and spit out rote, cold intelligence better suited to the factory floor than […]
Another Blog Book for the Annals
This is the end, beautiful friendThis is the end, my only friend ~The Doors It is with a mixture of joy and sorrow that I approach the final pages of each of my blog books. I freehand my blogs in multi-hued inks before migrating them to electronic media. I befriended the current blog book on […]
Dredging Shitballs
I have a running conversation with the voices in my head.These are not only mine. They also originate from characters outside my reach. ~David Olson To some, the knowledge that I have multiple, parallel conversations running through my head is a point of concern and they likely believe I’m certifiable but, please, don’t arrange to […]
Well Done, Pig
Creative work is never really finished – just abandoned.The trick, of course, is knowing when to abandon it.~A.W. Baldwin ‘Twas a time I poo-pooed anything to do with the visual arts. Externally, the rationale was they did not advance science and empirical knowledge therefore was a waste of time. For similar reasons, I shunned fiction […]
A Living Tragedy
We are what we imagine. Our very existence consists in our imaginationof ourselves. Our best destiny is to imagine, at least, completely, who and what, and that we are. The greatest tragedy that can befall us is to go unimagined.~N. Scott Momaday I find it difficult living in an imaginary world, a challenge getting my […]
The Perception of Value
I tried, I still try, to accept that I cannot be neutral or objective, because I refuse to turn myself into an object indifferent to human passion.~Eduardo Galeano If I had to pinpoint the greatest chasm (and there are many) between myself and Repricklicans, it would come down to compassion, compassion for humans that transcends […]
What Good Is It?
Of what use is the arrow if it never flies?~Eduardo Galeano Why be born, if we have to die?~Eduardo Galeano Why does everything need to have a perceived purpose as a prerequisite to having value? Value is relative to an individual, relative to a people. Land appearing fallow or overgrown or unused is vital to […]
Old Gray Haired Hawk Man
Old men and gray hawks need solitude.~Robinson Jeffers I’ve been smoking a lot of the ‘I crave solitude‘ weed and exhaling those smoky thoughts into my writing meditations. I was beginning to think my growing desire to be alone is a jonesing for a calming fix in an increasingly ornery world, a reaction to global […]
Musings of a Middle Aged Man 