Thursday, March 2, 2017

Our small fears "I'm not good at looking at art"

"I'm not good at looking at art" I have had more than one person say this to me.  

Oh everyone, never look at a piece of art again and wonder what you are supposed to feel or do 
or see
Feel what you are feeling, think what you are thinking 
Never pretend again to be interested if you are bored
Stop being polite
lets go back to the day of throwing tomatoes if we are disappointed. 
Stomping our feet to ask for a beat.  
If you don't understand the conversation ask a question or leave 
Leave 
be brave and leave now scared humans

Everyone cry with me again 
Oh we who hold the power to blow the shell of our planet up over and over again but are to scared to tell the artist that we are bored
To scared to tell the doctor we still hurt
to scared to not go to the meaningless job
to stop buying the tools of the slave master
to scared to admit our own part in the rape 
to go against the pressure of friends
to scared of pain or death and rejection. 
We are lost
Our powers go spinning out so so far beyond our own small lives. 
Our stories no longer fit into the reality
We have woven ourselves into a tangled web of lies 

I'm hungry for you to admit what is happening
What happened
I'm hungry for you to know what it feels like to be me or them 
or for you to share what it really was like for you
To pour spill your ache out like the gush of water breaking
To vomit it onto the floor no hiding anymore. 
I am so hungry I can almost taste your scream in my mouth
behind your swallowed words

Human of the world be the artists, be the rebels 
be the angels
scare me with your beauty and ugliness
rise up into the sky with your own billowy dreams 
and sink into the earth with the lead of your pain
save me 
with your truth

Here is my prescription for the vast majority of us: You need to be in a relatively safe place outside with others