If you make art

 If you make art, and your art is not making you, then you are doing something wrong.

Goal of life

 The goal of life is not leisure. It’s meaningful work.

The goal of life is not wealth. It’s generosity.
The goal of life is not stuff. It’s beauty.
The goal of life is not celebrity. It’s humility.
The goal of life is not you. It’s us.
The goal of life is not romance. It’s love.

Healings

 When you look back, do you see a trail of small healings?

How can?

 How can we infuse our society with hatred and violence and do so little to make it sacred?

How can we spend so much time on what money can buy and so little on what money can’t buy?

How can we believe the lies that stoke our fear but fear the truth that can make us stronger?

How can we believe in heroes who have brawn but not believe in heroes who show courage?

How can we be suckered by spectacle but not be refreshed by solitude?

Great grandmother died

 Great-grandmother Died

She was life instinctively clung to,
Because death
And the certain innocence of new seed
Demanded it.

The doctor certified the end of life—
The steady, regular functioning
Of the body’s soft machinery
Stopped.
That’s all he meant.

Quietly on display
Seeming not to smell the gladiolas
Or even mind the puffs of laughter from back corners,
She thought about how final it is
To release the soul.

For our part we managed
Spilling the required tears.
Six hands on the cold steel bar.

Humans

 Humans are an absurd and inscrutable bunch. They fear one another but need one another. They love one another but shun one another. They save one another but kill one another. Out of the womb they are pure possibility but grow into criminals, heroes, helpers, greedy people, martyrs—all of it. They seek wisdom then ignore it. They dream then lock themselves in a box. They lock others into poverty and lock their wealth in banks and objects.

They struggle with their bodily urges, let their minds get flabby and ignore their spirits. They kill their prophets and saviors and worship fame and power.

News

 The news is not the news. The news is what broadcasters decide the news is and what sponsors decide they will pay for. So chit-chat is the news. A high school football game is the news. Pet stories are the news. Cliché interviews with pro athletes and coaches are the news. Criminals are the news, but integrity is not the news. Sports is always the news and intellectual accomplishment is rarely the news. Books are news but visual art and poetry are not the news. World news is given as much airtime as entertainment news. The news is not the news.

Abortion

 In these conservative red states that put extreme restrictions on abortion, what does the law say about the responsibility of the fathers in the life of the child?

Flowers

 The flowers in the garden are glorious. But don’t just admire them or let them only be the acknowledgement of love, accomplishment or death. There are many lessons in a garden of flowers. They call us to the humility of being on our knees with hands in the dirt. They are stories of nature’s ecologies and the survival by collaboration. They are the inspiration for poets and the wonder for children. They remind us of nature’s resilience in its variety and cycles--anticipation in winter, hope in spring, dazzle in summer and the inevitably of death in winter. How many metaphors have come from flowers? They are nature’s constant tinkering with geometry.

FOX

 Breaking news on FOX

Melania confesses that, yes, Donald Trump does use spray tan on his penis.

George Santos is writing a play about his life, entitled “Another Clown in the House.”

When Ron DeSantis was a child, he was sexually abused by a Mickey Mouse impersonator.

Compassion

 What if all the celebrations of wealth and power were converted to celebrations of compassion?

Art is life

 I’ve heard artists say, “Art is life.” But why is that?

Well…

Art and life are best when they are driven by purpose.
You get the best from both when they are done with passion.
When they seek truth, they are at their most powerful.
Both are after understanding what it means to be human.
Both are best when they are fearless.
Both are honest when they aren’t after wealth and power.

Founding Fathers

 Would the Founding Fathers, in any way, believe their intent in the Second Amendment was what we see today? They modified ownership of guns right up front with the “militia clause.” Militias are groups with leaders and purpose, not individuals with personal agendas.

Things seem worse now than in the days of the Wild West, considering the power, precision and capacity of modern weapons. Our frequent mass killings only bring shame to us as a nation. We are even exporting these tragedies to other countries.

The current Republican party line is that this is really a mental health problem. Like many others, I have a mental illness and have experienced many panic attacks, but I’ve never thought of killing anyone. The gun is the precipitate. It’s where solving the problem starts.

100 years from now

 Name 3 contemporary artists who will be considered masters 100 years from now.

New

 New for a better you:

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Not a happy lot

 Americans are not a happy lot. They spend very little time looking honestly at themselves in the mirror, discovering and valuing who they are as human beings. (They don’t listen to Mr. Rogers telling them they are liked for who they are.) As a result, they are easy prey for the influencers, social media, corporate marketers and celebrity pitchmen telling them they are not thin enough, pretty enough, with smooth enough skin, sparkling enough eyes, fashionable enough clothes, fancy enough cars, smart enough kids, big enough houses, silken enough hair, spike enough heels, all guaranteed to make them feel good about themselves. It’s buying into the delusion that superficial beauty and material possessions will bring happiness, when all they do is create an armor against self-realization that is not easy to penetrate.

Disappearing

 The elders are disappearing across the world

There but not there, alive but not living
Theirs is slow marching into a fog
Of memory, confusion and time
They can never get themselves back
The architecture of their brains
Is crumbling unpredictably
No hope of repair
Once vibrant, they are now children
To their caregivers, daily sustained by love
Sleep for them is comforting escape
Dreams become hallucinations
Small intimacies may still accumulate
Who are you? Why are you in my house?
Will the TV harm us? Will the TV harm us? Will the TV harm us?
Why do I have to take this medicine?
Are our children dead? Can we go see them?
Questions requiring tailored answers
You must enter their world
A world as real to them as yours is to you
Smiles are little saviors
Something still alive in their eyes
Best to avoid any visions of their exit
Best with both feet planted in now