the white door calls
opening, closing
hearing, blurs eyes
while listening directs
engaging these skills,
the white door moves
shattering shut or
decidedly ajar
a white door needs painting
a caring for
.
.
- mailed to Wyoming -
- artwork by Richard Pettibone -
Walking
(without urgent strides)
With someone
(who's arriving to their final end stop)
To their grave
(a position with no consequences, only memories)
Requires restraint
(forcefully present as a newborn's eyes on mother)
For both
(the one who continues living and the one who stops)
Walking with someone to their grave
requires restraint for both
.
.
First view
falls short of the first thought
First thought
encourages first talk
First talk
excites first visit
First visit
starts first journey
First journey
produces first realization
First realization
makes first insight
First insight
arches toward first healing
First healing
allows first work
First work
enables first money
First money
gives first home
First home
marks a Second beginning
.
.
artwork by Gerhard Richter
more about Gerhard Richter here
Sleep awakens
those internal workers
to begin the act
of re-balancing the days journey
whether complex as a flake of...
anything
or mundane as tying shoes
Sleep offers a deliberate reset
slowing the heart, breath and brain
to a primordial position
Or not
The workers sometimes do not arrive
Hence sleep becomes a terror
a movie presenting abstraction as a storyline
a subconscious tour de tete
offering not an ounce of tranquility
but an abundance of blustering thoughts
Nourish the workers by placing
the days journey at the tip
of the tongue
So they can push it out effortlessly
.
.
- artwork by Anni Albers -
Hurt shutters across
the body as pain shoots
through nerves
arriving at the brain
uninvited, exactly ill-timed.
If there was an ideal time for pain --
during sleep or
while petting a dog --
it would be grand.
There is not.
Pain comes with severity,
occasionally gradual
severity,
almost certainly
with annoyance.
Wade through
the pain.
Laugh at it.
Slightly disrespect it.
Leave it unsatisfied.
.
.
artwork: Francis Bacon (detail) Study After Velasquez's Portrait Of Pope Innocent X
A bow will not be untied
until its limbs are pulled,
causing its center to pucker and disappear.
Flattened, bare and vulnerable to other knots,
the trauma and indignities produced
is enough for the bow to run from the pulling --
to not recognize, adjust or believe its bow problems.
The bow may be flattened,
but it will be free to be, better yet,
become something new.
.
.
- artwork by Joel Meyerowitz -
Sandwich size
Snack size
Zip-lock
bags
you know the type
one smaller
one taller
we really REAlly
need those
multi-sized bags
to remind and keep us,
the U.S., consuming our
most notorious export:
to consume
~
~
- sent to Kentucky -
- artwork by Fredrick Kann -
A touch that penetrates.
Patience to hear -- not just listen.
Idiosyncrasies deeply carved -- approaching perfection by obsession.
Observing decay -- somehow beautified by the life that caused it.
These are moments that transpire with the older of age.
Use the day -- touch the penetrating years.
~
~
- mailed to Montana -
- artwork by William Eggleston -
There is a sense of comfort
knowing someone is alive.
After you listen or read or see
what they have made,
knowing the creator still lives,
still has influence on earth,
it is a comfort.
Then they die.
Although you may not have listened or
read or seen what they have made recently,
now that they are gone, you drown in loss.
Sometimes, we forget about people.
Then when they die, we remember
how much we were influenced,
how much we were moved.
~
~
- mailed to Utah -
- artwork by Mary Weatherford -
I.
A hazy mind
conspires with
a hazy atmosphere.
The soft blur in the air equips the mind with food.
If the hazy mind
is not yet ready
to feast,
the mind looks to retreat to a favorite distant spot --
dropping responsibilities,
as airplanes drop
with heavy severity.
II.
The haze
makes distance
abstract;
allowing figures to appear as they disappear,
permitting
distant shapes to meander
into focus.
The hazy mind wants to know who is friend or foe,
but the haze
blurs the line
just enough to infuriate.
III.
Haze surprises
by descending
from above.
Distant problems are less sharp, rounder.
Haze leaves and
focus returns.
Something changed.
Things have crisped to the point of a breadstick snap.
Haze feels good,
especially when it leaves,
knowing the distance will return.
.
.
- mailed to Arizona -
- artwork by Milton Avery -
If you want phone calls
Make phone calls.
Friends are friendly
If you are a friendly friend.
If you want grass
Water it.
Spouses love
When spouses are loved.
If you want war
Dismantle lives.
Pets usually stay
When fed.
If you want to believe
Ask all the questions.
Seeking significance?
Notice insignificant moments.
.
.
- mailed to Nevada this week -
- artwork by Kerry James Marshall -
A generator generates.
Generating good, as easy as
generating bad.
Generating nothing, as easy as
generating something.
Stop.
Generating something generates more,
could be angst,
could be joy,
could also alienate or leave people desiring more.
While generators generate gestures,
an audience concurrently generates opinions.
A good generator generating bad gestures,
still a good generator?
A bad generator generating good gestures,
still a bad generator?
Stop.
Generations of generators will keep generating.
Generate what you are today,
for tomorrow you will be someone more.
.
.
- mailed to Idaho this week -
- artwork by Ellsworth Kelly -
The green phone is waiting
it is patient
too old to ring
a generous communicator
with no eyes
only ears and mouth
and no chance to feel
But the green phone is purposeful
heavy where it needs to be
narrow in its tone
a grand tool to communicate
in its day
today the green phone peers-out
too slow to talk
yet remembers how useful its life was
the green phone did one thing
just fine enough
I may wish to be the green phone
.
.
- mailed to California -
- artwork by Pablo Picasso -