Tap a shoe
Twist the pelvis
blink 7 blinks
yell-out loud
clap your clap
kick the calf
show some teeth
stand up now
It's a pain
trying to refrain
from joy
or some pain
blow out metal emotion
be quick to heal
look at your feet
they probably still feel
- mailed to Delaware this week -
artwork by Pablo Picasso
I.
Tumultuous air
carries a paisley of prickled nuggets
containing turbulent emotion.
Their roar delights
in seeking vulnerable ears
hoping for a respite.
Pray they pass;
Or expect to endure a waltz
destined to extract tension and tears.
II.
Tension and tears
blow out
from the head
tightly bound as string
round a spinning top,
gaining momentum dramatically.
Tension and tears escape,
helping the head,
to not bake.
- mailed to Pennsylvania this week -
artwork by Philip Guston
Addressing a dress can cause a pause
at any given address.
Understand that when a dress is addressed
caution and delicacy and intent
are paramount.
When desire to undress a dress
is disguised as a compliment
beware, be aware, the best that may come
is subtle or coquettish aggression --
though wrath of all sorts
will more likely need to be addressed
from a dress.
So all must learn to dance with a dress,
meaning both lead and follow
simultaneously.
Listen and groove,
a light step and smile helps too.
Giving a hint, might get a wink
while simply respecting soars you
to heavenly heights --
perhaps to an address unknown.
Yes, addressing a dress, with honor,
may eventually change your address
to a place you can call home.
- mailed to Maryland this week -
artwork by Man Ray
Floating far and long
toward a place ostensibly unknown
It's a hike as perilous as dry eggs from mother
bordering a road familiar to few others
A life of treasure sans lies to find
in this long and long and far far climb
Thorns keep finding toe and heel
sticking around shamelessly irritating thoroughly
If only that place others never see
would be believable, even retrievable, to those other than me
- mailed to Florida this week -
Artwork by Siddharth Parasnis
unfold two arms and contempt is demolished
enfold those same arms to watch joy trickle in
a people will sometimes unfold a desperate history
families will recover -- enfold the pain together, finally
unfold a religious deity while searching for a truth
watch a community enfold, encouraging questions, humanely
today unfolds -- many options abound, so many seem needless
consider laughing aloud, enfolding those with your sound
a surprise may unfold with a well positioned laugh
depleting tension, enfolding peace nudging toward a saner hour
.
.
- poem went to Georgia this week -
- artwork by Amilcar de Castro
Thank you Art
for being a blunt chameleon
available for needy humans to visit.
You settle, sustain,
even change the brain, the soul.
You give, what body and mind unknowingly need.
Each gazer sees
different things in you,
yet you remain unchanged, same.
Much-obliged, Art, for adapting - hence adopting us.
You are a gracious creation
for the sake of humans alone.
- mailed to South Carolina this week -
artwork by Gary Hume - "Yellow Hair"
Falling, like wheels careening down an incline
Heat, blustering closer like the fire at kid camp
Groceries, arriving as dreams do while slumbering
Age, surprises gradually like fingernails growing
If there is no possibility, no noticing of everything
Then allow a break from all situations, a stop
Take the all-consuming muscle for a walk, over the cliff
So to see the air pulse in-and-out of a mouth, distinguished-ly
- mailed to North Carolina this week -
artwork by Sol LeWitt
What if a shove were gentle,
helpful, with kindness, maybe sentimental?
That shove could come from her or him.
It could arrive on the arm, without harm, on a whim.
But a shove can shock. Shoves shock.
Yes, a shove is a shock.
Shoves can shock a life into action
or create a whole lot of dissatisfaction.
What if a shove that shocks intends to _______,
(you fill in the blank - an unspeakable)?
A shove that shocks with intent,
definitely arrives with major discontent.
But the shock of a shove with intent
potentially might represent
a mistake of the gravest kind,
with a possibility to forgive, and leave it behind.
- mailed to Virginia this week -
artwork by Alexander Calder
A line starts
unknowing, directionless
yet going
brace for an
intersect, change direction
maneuver
peer around
see lines of all sizes, colors
Interact
lines connect
producing length, breadth, depth yet
curves may appear
drift with them
good to lead with what was gained
without blame
- mailed to West Virginia -
- artwork by Amedeo Modigliani - detail of Anna Zborowska
weeds have grown over the petunias
making the petunias stretch sideways seeking sunlight
but sunlight has scorched the grass that lay exposed for dogs to sniff and urinate on
curious dogs find delicious morsels along their route - treats to their daily diet
perhaps our prize - the real treat to seek is
a petunia touched by a sliver of sun living on unscorched grass strong enough to survive roaming dogs and
weeds
they kill
sometimes strengthen
all dependin'
- mailed to Ohio this week -
Artwork by Heather Gwen Martin
Bruises are breaking a child
into unequal portions
for future distribution
Not the toppled bicycle kind of bruise
nor the mean friend sort.
The dead pet bruise along with the
failure to excel type - all exempt.
If clothed, fed and able to recite an address,
sorry, relevance to you is minimal too.
These are bruises from extreme ambivalence
accentuated with designed cruelty.
Bruises produced by abstract religio-political belief:
war, causing an upheaval from the home.
Emotional bruises when humans near or far battle.
Insanely, they are bruises made from others' wounds.
Rage and ache for those bruised.
Understand, as different parts of the bruised
arrive in society, they may not add-up as expected.
- mailed to Michigan this week -
- Artwork by Rachel Whiteread -
I.
a hint, a wink, a slight move
an explanation, illustration, description
all options for communication
II.
Experiences slip into memory
and are squandered if not told as stories.
Story is needed
for the experience to live beyond memory.
III.
To tell a story can be
sweat inducing, adrenaline producing
and on that rare occasion --
when heads nod and eyes get bigger --
satisfying.
When the cycle works flawlessly --
experience - memory - story --
another, different story may be born.
- this one sent to Alabama -
video here...
Artwork = Gerhard Richter
A church that questions more than commands
Enables its religion to give more than demand
A giving church receives from its community
While its religion inspires the intellect with impunity
You will never know the church aright
Without depositing your spirit and talents and insight
So reach high and low and discover your best voice
Wherever you find church, you should be given the choice
- mailed to Tennessee -
video here...
Artwork by Henrietta Shore