Conundrum’s Child | Poem by Ron Olsen

conundrums child

Conundrum’s Child
By Ron Olsen

What purpose then
Do the poet’s words serve?
Might as well ask
Why we stick around at all
Absent the courage to be
Or not
The Bard nailed it
Many times over
Moderation
Consideration
Determination
Words tempt the soul
To surrender
Without a fight
Your choice
Is no choice at all
Breathing in hope
Sputtering out damnation
Leaving you
Battered
Bruised
Deathlike
Not caring
For common needs
The poet bleeds
Without cause
Glory
Passes to stardust
The cosmic laughter
Of children
Finding their way home
Casts light
On the void
Another step
In the search
For one true thing
Guiding the poet’s pen
With a gift of grace

© 2015 Ron Olsen – all rights reserved

 

malibu

Ron Olsen is an LA-based retired journalist who writes essays and an occasional poem.  More of his poetry can be found here.

 

 

 

 

From Starlight to Stairlifts | Poem

 

From Starlight to Stairlifts

Strong the light seems in the childhood sky.
Faintly the light beams through the window by
the young man’s head to the pillow lit by the moon.
Starlight shines in his eyes as his thought strays
to the girl of smiles and eyes and hips that sway
in his dreams.

Strong is the light in the eyes of the child of those dreams
amid the noise and the hurry and the loss of sleep
and the no time to notice the time going by

until the stairway to heaven is a stairlift
and the moonlight falls on the pillow
and the starlight shines in her eyes
and the girl of smiles and eyes and hips that sway,
dreams.

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From Starlight to Stairlifts by David Michael Jackson

Which Way is Up | Survey | Jade

Our first entry in the category of Which Way is Up Paintings is D. M. Jackson and Jade. He poses the question, “Which three Jades do I kill by signing my painting thereby assigning an orientation?”. If you are an abstract artist, you have probably posed this question. If you can create a “different” expression in all orientations, send it to us.
Just for fun, pick a Jade!
[formidable id=2]

Artistic Intent | Statements and Modern Art | Is it the Art or the Words?

“He seeks to represent a didactic response to conceptual perception, preferring to represent color as an alternative to concept rather than as a denial of form.”  WTF?
The painting presented might be pink marshmallows with toothpicks and ribbons. We, the public, are told that we should weep when viewing a Rothko, that Pollock had such control of his “drip” and that we are to understand the statement of intent and connect it to these pink marshmallows. The pink marshmallows may be really good art and it may remind you of that pink chiffon blouse that your Aunt Mabel wore and you buy the art. When you show it to your friends, do you mention a didactic response or Aunt Mabel? Whose “meaning” for the painting is more valid, yours or that of the artist? Which is more interesting, the realization of intent or the magic of individual perception?
When we view the cave art from 35,000 years ago, we discuss and guess the intent but we celebrate the wonderful realization of the art and perception. What was the intent of Michelangelo’s David, the Mona Lisa? Those artists didn’t have to write one. The intent may have been evident in the art. We are left to determine what is said by more concrete evidence in the art than today. The Impressionists didn’t have to say anything, the Cubists were quiet. Even Marcel Duchamp didn’t have to say, “I declare this urinal to be art.” Words were written by others. The artist just put it in front of you and the newspaper would decode the intent.
Modern Art seems to require a resume and words that let us know that the artist has taken a journey we don’t quite understand. Left alone in the museum, we’ll gravitate on our own based upon perception and not intent.

When I visited the Louvre as a young serviceman, I didn’t know what I was seeing. It seemed to my green uneducated eyes that a lot of churches in the past seemed to want a picture of the Crucifixion. All seemed to have the same intent. When your intent is to paint the king, your intent is to please the king. The impressionists also seemed to have the same impressionist intent, to represent the moment. When the art is a radical departure, it needs no statement.
So why is the statement of intent so important today in the art world? The importance of words is right here on this modern page. Art has always been about the words, the discussion. Visit an opening and it feels like a bunch of people standing around talking. It’s not that the art is secondary but modern art needs the words. Duchamp’s urinal is no longer a urinal. It’s art because he said it was, the gallery owner let him say it and the paper wrote about it. The public is informed and educated with words.

Is it the art or the words? The first words on the art are the name of the artist. In that regard, it’s the words. Without the right words there, the statement of intent is for the gallery owner. “Here is what I was going for” and here is my resume. Art has become a job for which we apply.
If we make it, the words tell the public when to weep.

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drawing-of-david-michael-jackson
david-michael-jackson by Kyle Baker

David Michael Jackson is the Publisher of Artvilla and other websites. He’s a poet, a musician and outsider artist. “I write a poem when the blog needs one. It’s like getting on the road without a destination. The poem seems to go somewhere on its own. I like to paint with no intent other than to put paint on the canvas. The next day, I’ll change it without knowing why except that it’s not “there”.  If I’m my only customer I want to discover something or at least go looking . My latest abstract is Painting with No Up or Down. It’s up to you what it means.”

Stream Addams Family Free at Dailymotion

The Addams Family is not your typical family: it delights in most of the stuff that would terrify normal people. Gomez Adams is an extremely wealthy man who can satisfy any appetite of his wife Morticia, whether it is the growing of poisonous plants or a candlelit dinner in a cemetery. People who visit the Addams Family just don’t seem to notice the 7-foot-tall butler named Lurch or the helping hand, which is just a hand called “Thing.” By Murray Chapman
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