Me for You

 Me for You

Hold me
As if we were now you,
Completed.
Trust me
As if I were the mirror
In which you saw yourself
As the you you dreamed.
Believe in me
As if I could fill any gap
To make you whole.
Ask me anything
As if the question were answered
Before it left your lips.
Say yes to us
As if we were and could never be
Any less than that.

100 Lives

 

From: 100 Lives (Condensed)
Her parents were both alcoholics. She had both the attitude and the body for tattoos, and, believe me, she had many. The visible ones were astonishing. The hidden ones were a play ground for the imagination. Even as her flesh aged and sagged, her tattoos still drew great admiration. Men were repulsed and attracted by her, often both at the same time. Though many men loved her, she never married. When she died, it was the first nude full-body, open-casket viewing anyone had ever attended.

HCA #33

 Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #33

Brothers and sisters in Art,
Make art for yourself first.
To test your resolve.
To see if you’re all in.
Too see if you’ve found beauty.
To see if it shakes the world, even a little.
To see if it’s honest.
Then it will be ready to take on the world.

Believe

 Do You Believe This?

Do you believe this?
Life ends, love endures.
Then take armfuls of love from its universe
And scatter it freely like seed.

Do you believe this?
Love’s arrow is free
To choose any target.
Then let its drugged tip enter deep
And work its chemistry.

Do you believe this?
Love is work
Rewarded with more love.
Then plant it.
Pull the weeds.
.
Do you believe this?
Love can speak
In sacred voices.
Listen, then
Love the world with vengeance.

HCA #32

 

100 Lives

 From: 100 LIves (condensed)

The age 7 day: He fell off his bike, got kissed by a girl, read a bedtime story to his little sister. The age 11 day: Had a Belgian waffle for breakfast, failed his math test and broke his collarbone in a fall from the neighbor’s tree. The age 17 day: He shaved off his beard, finished Huckleberry Finn and lost his virginity. The age 27 day: He woke up drunk, was late for his own wedding and didn’t get the blow job he expected. The age 32 day: He watched his son be born, looked at his wife as he had never done before and even thought he could come to love his mother-in-law. The age 51 day: At breakfast he confided something to his wife that he thought he never could, spent an ordinary day at work and got a call saying that his son had died in a DUI. The age 73 day: Finished a book on Genghis Khan, decided not to go to dialysis and died in his favorite easy chair.
63.

HCA #31

 Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #31

Brothers and sisters in art,
Art is distressed about the loss of its young people.
For most of them, once their drawings are taken off the refrigerator, their art life is over.
They are not taught drawing as an active form of disciplined seeing and visual investigation.
They are not taught the principles of art as a language.
In a visual world, they are not taught to interpret the messages of advertising, marketing and visual design.
They remain visually illiterate.

HCA #30

Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #30

Brothers and sisters in Art,

Discipline is the foundation of all great art. Discipline in commitment, discipline in thought, discipline in use of skill and talent and discipline in execution. Disciplined practice is the basis of intuition that is faster than thought, very reliable.

Be disciplined. 

People

 

HCA #29

 Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #29

Brothers and sisters in Art,
Visual art is a language of images, but a language none-the-less. It has grammar and structure. As a result, it is capable of expressing ideas and emotions, telling stories, being descriptive and poetic and more. It can be clumsy or articulate.
It can intersect with the language of words and the language of geometry.
Frame your art as language and see what happens.

Role models

 Role Models

When the Gods cohabitate,
Rocking the celestial fields,
They create all creation.
Should we do anything less?
You scream, “Oh God!” and tell me
This is heaven.
Did we awake to a world we made anew?

Great lovers in myth and history
Were tortured in their love,
Willing to trade now for eternity.
Is their lesson a measuring stick
For our temporal circumstance?
Could we grab eternity
In the smallest fleck of time?

The Blessed Virgin, rewarded for her trials
As mother, rises from the stable floor
To the Throne of Heaven.
Should I expect less for all the diapers,
Stumbles, wounds and losses
Than a son of God?

100 Livea (Condensed)

 Her length in centimeters. Her temperature taken in the ear. How many blocks she stacked before the tower fell. Her allowance. The length of her hair. Her IQ. Her bust size. The minutes it took for her to lose her virginity. The pay per hour at Burger King. Her GPA in high school. The carats in her engagement ring. Her weight. Her weight. Her weight. The square footage of her house. Her weight. Her blood pressure. Her age. Her weight. The cost of a hair appointment. The endless hours in the recliner. The weight of her ashes.

HCA #29

 Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #29

Brothers and sisters in Art,
Visual art is a language of images, but a language none-the-less. It has grammar and structure. As a result, it is capable of expressing ideas and emotions, telling stories, being descriptive and poetic and more. It can be clumsy or articulate.
It can intersect with the language of words and the language of geometry.
Frame your art as language and see what happens.

HCA #28

 Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #28

Brothers and sisters in Art,
ART embraces all art, but it has expectations.
It expects integrity, truthfulness and commitment.
It expects a vision that brings the viewer to a new place.
It should be a gift.

HCA #27

 

Donald and Jesus

 It’s delusional for anyone to believe they can be a good Christian and support Donald Trump.

Donald Trump doesn’t have one iota of the courage of Jesus.
Donald Trump thinks only of himself. Jesus always thought of others.
Donald Trump had Stormy Daniels. Jesus had Mary Magdalene.
Donald Trump is a liar and a crook. Jesus faced false charges in an exemplary way.
Donald Trump uses people. Jesus enabled people to love.
Donald Trump excludes those he doesn’t like. Jesus welcomed everyone.
Donald Trump lives a life of wealth and luxury. Jesus walked among the poor and disenfranchised.

Evil is easy

 Evil is easy. The Seven Deadly Sins are great seducers. They promise wealth and pleasure while they slowly eat away at the soul. They are most dangerous in the hands of the powerful.

Love is hard work. Authentic love is an enduring commitment that is constantly tested. Its rewards are in the small and countless acts that affirm the power of the human heart.

Night sky

 Don’t look up at the night sky. There must be a football game on TV somewhere.

Don’t look up at the night sky. You might miss that glorious slam dunk.
Don’t look up at the night sky. Your cell phone has all you need.
Don’t look up at the night sky. There’s a video game from a galaxy far, far away.
Don’t look up at the night sky. The social media influencers are waiting for you.
Don’t look up at the night sky. There’ll always be another meteorite.
Don’t look up at the night sky. It’s only where you came from.

100 lives

 From: 100 Lives (Condensed)

Boyfriend #1 was Dad. Boyfriend #2 was Uncle Johnny. Boyfriend #3 did impressive tricks on a skateboard. Boyfriend #4 had lots of curly black hair. Boyfriend #5 was hung. Boyfriend #6 had a nice car and money in his pocket. Boyfriend #7 was Husband #1. Husband #2 drove a black he-man truck. Husband #3 told her she had the nicest tits he’d ever seen. Husband #4 owned his own business and bought her diamond earrings. Husband #5 gave her a fancy funeral and buried her next to his mother.

Journey

 journey

glance
stare
dream
ask
touch
kiss
enter
gasp
whisper
sleep
wake
work
wed
dance
bed
seed
birth
cry
giggle
blood
rage
bliss
grasp
release
fail
learn
savor
weep
sing
embrace
pray
fade
die
live

HCA #26

 Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #26

When a work of art increases excessively in value, it becomes a commodity. It’s locked up because of its value, and so deprives of its true intention.
So make art that will escape into world, to be what it’s supposed to be.
Make art that’s persistent in its provocation.
Make art that puts itself into the consciousness of its viewers.
Make art that continues to assert itself as art.

Parties

Both political parties are fragmented and dysfunctional. They squabble internally and believe that the dominance of the party is the ultimate goal, leaving the people in a limbo of problems which don’t get solved.
Since the parties control the money, the election apparatus and have the support of the wealthy, there is no room for a viable third party. We currently find ourselves with Trump and Biden. Trump is totally unacceptable in terms of competence, character, leadership and policies. Biden has accomplished many things, but questions of health and mental status hang over him.

So this is what our current of national government offers us. Whatever happens, I believe Americans have enough faith and resilience to weather it. 

HCA #25

 Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #25

Brothers and sisters in Art,
The truth of your art lies in you.
The integrity of your art lies in you.
The art you make and leave behind cannot tell the full story of your journey in art. That story is in you and is only partially told in the artwork.
So be true to yourself and make integrity your message in the work.

Victims

 Americans are victims.

Victims of comfort.
Victims of slick advertising.
Victims of consumerism.
Victims of celebrity worship.
Victims of spectacle.
Victims of excess.
Victims of dysfunctional politics.
Victims of too many guns.
Victims of the easy out.

HCA #24

 Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #24

Brothers and sisters in Art,
Artists must be evangelists for art.
Abandon your studios and galleries where the significance of art is known.
Go out into the streets and schools and speak about art with patience and passion.
Who knows better than you the power of creativity, the necessity for beauty and the way the world must be revealed.
Evangelize.

Trump

 We can’t measure politicians simply as politicians. We must measure them by the competence and character that drive their ability to be effective leaders. Consider Donald Trump. He has never been loved and doesn’t know how to love. He is a taker, not a giver. He is a narcissist in a “me world” who enters his speeches looking for the acclaim of the audience rather than acknowledging his audience. He demeans his opponents. He wants power but plays the role of a victim.

Many of his former staff have abandoned him, criticizing him as a leader and a person. His business practices have recently been found to be illegal. His treatment of women is contemptable.
I can only assume that he affirms the beliefs and values of his followers. But I can’t see how any true Christian could find anything to support in him.

Alabama

 The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that embryos are individuals. As a result, embryos are guaranteed an education and teachers must prepare for teaching them. An embryo that is frozen for 15 years can get a driver’s license. An embryo that has been frozen for 18 years can vote.

At some point, an embryo will be able to smoke and drink.
Gay embryos may not marry.
The issue of transgender embryos is, at this point, is still undecided.

Conscience

When we are nothing more than flesh, we can kill, maim, torture and abuse if we are without conscience.
When we are without love, we can demean and demonize the other if we are without conscience.
When we deny the humanity of others, we can exploit them if we are without conscience.
When we deny the sacredness of others, we give up our own conscience.
People tell one another: Grow a set of balls. They need to say: Grow a conscience.

Throughout time, humans have looked for God in many places—nature, religion, the heavens, the church, even the street. To my mind, God is in the conscience of human beings. 

HCA #23

 Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #23

Brothers and sisters in Art,
Persist.
You have little control over what society makes of your work.
But you have complete control over the strength of your voice, your desire for excellence and what your art discovers about beauty and humanity.
Persist.

Autocrats

 The little soulless autocrats continue to accumulate wealth and power, no matter the cost to anyone. They don’t understand that nothing they gain by their evil motives will ever fill them up, ever make them human. So how do they gain so much wide control over their worlds? What about the good ones?

The good ones, who understand what it means to be a human being, call us to live what they live. They are the ones we crucify.

HCA #22

 Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #22

Brothers and sisters in Art,
Embrace your strangeness. It is the basis of your vision.
Dance on the edge of things. This is where the new bubbles up.
Sing your compulsions. Give them a stronger voice.
Affirm beauty no matter how strange it is.

Navalny

 Alexay Navalny, dead at 47. One more example of a great soul, a courageous human being, killed by the forces of brutal power. His spirit will endure. Give a thought to him today and what his life has meant.

Taylor

 Climate change? Not now, I’m listening to all of Taylor Swift’s songs.

Gun violence? Sorry, I don’t want to miss any Taylor/Travis kisses.

Child hunger? Maybe later. I’m trying to help Taylor make her second billion.

Homelessness? Well, why not give each one a Taylor T-shirt.

War? Not for me. Taylor brings me to Happyland.

V Day

 I hope this Valentine’s Day brings you more than chocolates, flowers, dinner out or even diamonds. I hope it brings you an honest gesture of authentic love.

Love

 Love is a virus.

Love is a tsunami.
Love is a missed opportunity.
Love is a demanding taskmaster.
Love is a delusion.
Love is a group activity.
Love is a search for God in us.
Love is a tough nut to crack.
Love is what makes it all worthwhile.
Love is a seed planted with care.
Love is a sign of strength.
Love is the foundation of our shared humanity.
Love is our life’s work.
Love is the only thing that will save us.
Love is what makes us human.
Love is irrational.
Love is a sign of courage.
Love is an act of reverence.
Love is a gift.

Don't ask

 

HCA #21

 Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #21

Brothers and sisters in Art
They will come seeking the comfortable, the familiar, the easy, the pretty, not knowing that these will soon have nothing more to say.
Give them the provocative, the unsettling, the eye-opening, the questioning, knowing that these will always engage and always reveal something new.

Mental

 It is my experience that a serious mental illness is never cured. It is held at bay by willpower, therapy, support and medication. Mental illness is a shadow that is always with you, and the shadow and its person often flip in the reality of the ill person.

The brain of the ill person conjures an alternative reality that clashes with the reality most of us share, a reality that can be dangerous to themselves and others.
There has been much written about creativity and madness. They share the emergence of new and unsettling realities. Sometimes, though, these two human capacities come together in a fruitful way for society, if not for the individual.

Man?

 So what is a man?

Family man
Ladies’ man
Gentle-man
Man for all seasons
Man of the world
Macho-man
Man of his times
Man with a plan
Man of the year
Man of the hour
Manly man
Real man
Marlboro man
Man child
Company man
Dance man
Gay man
Con man
Little man
Big man
Old man
Young man
Police-man
Fire-man
Rich man
Poor man
Love ya man
So many choices.

HCA #3

 Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #20

Brothers and sisters in Art
The cathedral of art is a soaring space, bathed in color and light and rich in symbolism. In it the world is revered, unraveled and made sacred. It is a space of visions, of reverence for the good and of piercing the skin of reality. Sit and let your thoughts find their home. Let the notes of the organ pull at you. For that time, become art.

HCA #19

 Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #19

Brothers and Sisters in Art,
They will ask you for a pleasant picture, but give them art.
They will ask you for something comfortable, but make them think.
They will ask you for something pretty, but give them something of true beauty.
They will ask you what it means, but tell them the answer comes free with the art.
They will ask you for a picture of something, but give them a vision.
They will tell you they don’t understand it, but tell them understanding unravels over time and that’s why it’s art.

HCA #18

 Holy Church of Art

Sermonette #18

Brothers and sisters in Art,
We cannot all be glorious saints of art, nor do we all have the fortitude, but we can all joyfully plants the seeds of art, nurture them with our creativity and watch them bloom into gifts for the world. We can courageously face our own humanity and give back our understanding to the world. We can affirm that beauty, as wild and sublime as it may be, is more important than wealth and power.

Draw

 

Good

 How does an individual choose to become a person who resists doing wrong, lives with decency, has compassion for others and acts out of love?

There are many people like this.
Imagine the kind of society we would have if we could answer this question.

Trumpty

 Trumpty Dumpty sat on a wall.

Trumpty Dumpty had a great fall.
All of his horse’s asses and all of his yes-men
Couldn’t put Trumpty together again.

imagine

 Imagine you are a snowflake, unlike any other.

Imagine you are a sun, light years away.
Imagine you are a sperm, anxiously awaiting your mission.
Imagine you are a cicada, patiently counting the 17 years.
Imagine you are a monstrous dust storm, crossing the Sahara.
Imagine you are bit of coral, slowly dying.
Imagine you are bug in the hand of a child.

Peace

 

T-shirt

 Does anybody know where I can get a T-shirt with Taylor Swift on one sleeve, Travis Kelce on the other sleeve, Joe Burrow on the front and Barbie on the back?

Caregivers

 

Sex

 All evolution and biology wants of us in our sexual lives is to reproduce and survive as a species. But over time, human consciousness and human culture have put other motivations and restrictions on sexual behavior. In modern times sexual practice has been more open about these motivations and more confrontational toward these restrictions. We acknowledge that sex can be pleasure, brutality, communication, addiction, comfort, predatory, love and more.

Sex between individuals of the same gender or of different races or ethnicities is more openly practiced. This has forced religion, society and politics to respond with more laws and rules. This is the contemporary flux we find ourselves in, but with uneven resolution.
We get hung up on the way sex is practiced, but don’t consider how sexualized our society has become. We get hung up on the way sex is practiced but forget the message: Do no harm.

Sacred

 For one day, believe that everything is sacred.

Chest Hair

 

MAGA

 

Art does

 Art does whatever you ask of it: fills a wall, matches the couch, fits your style, brings you comfort, shows you beauty, dives deep into reality, challenges you, challenges society, transforms the way you see, reveals the sacred.

Ask the most of art. Expect the most from art. Let it ask the most of you.

Joe

 The only solution is for Joe Burrow to start dating Beyonce.

Campaign

 American political campaigns are too long, too negative and too expensive. Campaign money pours into media coffers with ads that are crafted by marketers and spin doctors. Candidates are constructed by speech writers and reputation managers.

If I were a candidate, this would be my strategy. I would spend little money on campaign ads, none negative. I would turn my campaign funds into private support for effective programs. I would go (on a modest budget) to places where the important issues were evident and speak to ordinary people—homeless shelters, daycare centers, manufacturing plants, city governments, police stations, hospitals. I would ask what’s working and what’s not working. I would discuss with them my ideas and strategies for improvement. Then I would find a program related to our discussions which needs funding and make a donation.
Hopefully, this would get media coverage, word of mouth support and show them my concern, support and leadership in action.

Spectcle

 Spectacle is not beauty.

Spectacle is in the moment. Beauty infects.
Spectacle is noisy and excessive. Beauty transforms.
Spectacle is seductive. Beauty offers depth.
Spectacle is entertainment. Beauty is art.

Immigration

 

MAGA

 Donald Trump has shown the world that he is a narcissist, a liar, a convicted sex abuser, an indicted criminal, an ego that transcends the Constitution, a twice-impeached President and an amoral man. He did not do in his last term what he promised to do. He expressed admiration for Putin. He masterfully manipulates his followers with his witch hunt ploy.

With all of this he still has many staunch followers who want to see him in a second term as President. Who this man is and what he does comes from his character. So, I ask myself how this can be.
The answer for me. The MAGA Republican movement has not made America great again. Just the opposite. But it is a movement based on fear: fear of change, fear of loss of privilege, fear of the other, fear of the immigrant. It is fear of so many of the things that have actually made America great.
The danger of Trump and MAGA is real.

Evil

 There is no solution to the problem of evil. Evil is in our nature and manifests itself—even if in small bits--both through us and through our institutions. Look at our world. Love hasn’t conquered evil. Peace hasn’t conquered evil. Intelligence hasn’t conquered evil. Imagination hasn’t conquered evil. Creativity hasn’t conquered evil. Religion hasn’t conquered evil. Government hasn’t conquered evil, choosing to take on this demanding, constant work.

In the end, it’s the work of the individual to choose to do the hard and persistent work required to live a moral and compassionate life.

Decent

 Which American institutions encourage and support us in becoming decent human beings?

100 lives

 From: 100 Lives (Condensed)

He knew even as a pre-teen that he would have a penis of formidable size. Embarrassed, he kept it under wraps as best he could for as long as he could. He never named it, and for a long time resisted the obvious career choices. But hard times forced his hand, and he turned out to be a natural at porn. He made an enviable living and won numerous awards for his acting. Through all his years in the business, his parents never knew. When he died, he chose to be cremated. Nobody was going to make a trophy of his manhood.

Beauty

 What’s the last thing of real beauty you put into the world?

Children

 Dear Children of the World,

We’ve gifted you with guns, violence, drugs, sex trafficking, mental illness, predatory social media, pornography, famine, homelessness, climate disaster, dysfunctional families, absent parents, poor educational opportunities, life in refugee camps and uneven medical care.
We’ve taught you that war is always an option in all its brutality and killing.
Still, there’s some hope in the compassion and service of those who love the world.
But there it is.
Good luck,
The World’s Adults

Experience

 

Cathedrals

 The great cathedrals

Filled with gold, marble and gems
Art and craft abound

Their architecture
Captures soaring space and light
And makes it sacred

Was it easier
To build glorious Chartres
Than love one another

Masculinity

 The efforts of women to define what they want to be in the world, has affected how men define their masculinity. Masculinity is expressed in many different ways in nations, ethnicities, religions and groups. So to define masculinity is not an easy task.

In American culture via American entertainment media, what is not healthy masculinity is easy to find. But I think there something that can be called healthy masculinity, though I have not identified its core elements, if they indeed exist.
I believe masculinity is fluid, even in the same man. Masculinity expressed among male friends is different from masculinity expressed with a partner and still different from masculinity expressed with children or masculinity expressed in worship. Certainly, there has to be strength, flexibility, reliability, responsibility, trust, and the ability to make love evident. A very demanding task.
A look at toxic masculinity perhaps can add some perspective. Toxic masculinity is toxic because it is the same for all interactions of the man because it is always about him and his needs and never about the other. Narcissism and the need to control poison the ability to love.
The classic example of toxic masculinity is Donald Trump. He was never loved and does not know how to love. Look at his children. Look at how he treats Melania. Look at Stormy Daniels. Look at his uncovered comments about women.
In the end though, masculinity should be one manifestation of being a decent human being.
The elephant in the room of masculinity is male sexuality and its evolutionary, biological, social, cultural, psychological and emotional aspects. But that’s a discussion for another time.

Being

 At first, I was timid and reluctant, but I finally let the deep things out. Inside they were feelings, let out they were thoughts, thoughts that were penetrating and persistent. They were all about becoming a human being.

Need love

 Romance isn’t it.

Mushy love isn’t it.
Love wrapped in roses and candy isn’t it.
Love as sex isn’t it.
Timid love isn’t it.
We need courageous love.
We need dependable love.
We need love that doesn’t back down.
We need love that smothers hate.
We need love that teaches love.
We need love that understands suffering.

Band names 3

 Band names

Power faucets
Putin’s little thing
Melania’s second closet
Fizzy cocktails
Platypus Rodeo
Feckless Playboys
Ladies with Hatchets
Too Big for my Pants
Dysfunctional Religion
Gone Viral
Chest Hair
Polyester Love
The Queen’s Nipples
Freshly Pressed Skivvies
Journey to Nowhere
Flannel Thongs
Phlox
Vegan Brain Matter
Please Me, Please Me

Music and art

 What music should play alongside your art?

Mine would be a Gregorian chant, Hildegard von Bingen.

New Year

 My New Year’s resolution:

DO WHAT I’M SUPPOSED TO DO.