A poem from the Living Poetry Blog

Posted by on Aug 9, 2005 in Books, Culture, Writing | One Comment

I got this poem from Amy’s blog. She has the most wonderful poems there…. The Hammock Your hand pushes me away so that I float into the night, then swing back, back from the nebulae to our drifting conversation. Among the race of star demons what I saw out there– golden chains, the spindle, sirens chanting the music of the spheres– blurs and streaks across star-flung distances the chain-link fences can’t fence out. Between your hand and the hammock’s slow rocking the Void expands, twisting threads tautening, slackening, stretched almost to breaking: Do you feel that wobble of earth’s axis, space whirling past the ice-capped pole? The pines like judges stare down at us: What should we recant, here, tonight, as if we’d only just begun: Off-center already, losing equilibrium? The world-soul moving through the strung-out stars moves in threads that creak and moan, breathes between your mouth and mine. Pushing me away, you bring me home, your attraction drawing down the alchemical sign: Love draws the soul the way a magnet draws iron.

Sailing on the Ocean of Life

Posted by on Jul 14, 2005 in Art Journeys, Books, Spiritual Art, Writing | 2 Comments

The voyage from nowhere to nothing and back beaten by drunk, brawling seas, sometimes will toss up a treasure like this: just hold to the stillness and see shadows of what, on the island of peace, waits with your name in her sigh…. Caroline Myss has these words to say on life is a spiritual journey from her book “Invisible Acts of Power.”… Use the power of faith as your anchor: faith that there is a reason why things happen as they do; faith that you will make it through a crisis; faith that you are moving forward to a better place.”

Joyce Carol Oates on Writing and Art

Posted by on Jun 20, 2005 in Books, Writing | No Comments

At the moment I am reading a collection of Joyce Carol Oates essays on writing and art entitled “The Faith of a Writer.” In her essay on Running and Writing she has this to say: “To write is to invade another’s space, if only to memorialize it; to write is to invite angry censure from those who don’t write, or who don’t write in quite the same way you do, for whom you may seem a threat. Art by it’s nature is a transgressive act, and artists must accept being punished for it.

The Dollar isn’t what it used to be

Posted by on Jun 19, 2005 in Art, Books, Culture, Writing | No Comments

I took a stroll to Williamsburg this afternoon to search out my favorite afternoon tea snack (chocolate creme brule). Sitting at the cafe, I picked up a fascinating publication called enparalelo* opposites. I thought the following section was particularly topical:

The Dollar Isn’t What It Used To Be

* The US buys more than it sells. For every dollar it exports it imports 2.5

* Is this sustainable?

Paul Gauguin on Eternity

Posted by on Jun 17, 2005 in Art, Art Happenings, Artists, Books, Spiritual Art, Writing | No Comments

Life is hardly more than a fraction of a second. Such a little time to prepare oneself for eternity!

Paul Gauguin

Frank Lloyd Wright on Humility

Posted by on Jun 8, 2005 in Art, Art Happenings, Artists, Books, Culture, Film | No Comments

Having always been fascinated by the enigma of Frank Lloyd Wright, his architecture, and persona, I enjoyed this quote attributed to him at Artquotes in this morning’s email.

Having always been fascinated by the enigma of Frank Lloyd Wright, his architecture, and persona, I enjoyed this quote attributed to him at Artquotes in this morning’s email.



Early in life I had to choose between honest arrogance and hypocritical humility. I chose the

former and have seen no reason to change.

Interesting Ebooks on Health and Wellness

Posted by on Mar 6, 2005 in Books, Culture, Spiritual Art | One Comment

I don’t know about the rest of you artists but I find that eating well is a key part of my strategy for staying on top of my goals as an artist…. Some of the books I read and found very helpful were: Superfoods For Optimum Health – Chlorella and Spirulina Chlorella and spirulina are truly the most astounding food sources on planet Earth. In this special report, you’ll learn about the astonishing health benefits and nutritional achievements of these two foods, and you’ll see why you need to get these into your diet immediately.

There are Two Kinds of People in this World – free men and slaves. Who are you?

Posted by on Jan 21, 2005 in Artists, Books, Current Affairs, Spiritual Art | 3 Comments

Besides, you can depend on it, there are everywhere some people who will recognize your wisdom, truth and courage, and you will be well repaid by having won the appreciation of such people, even if you come back, as a result, out of a job and strapped…. These are the words of the old teacher before you again – get mad at me if you like – but it’s the same as I used to say when I was teacher and you were pupil, and it was such ideas, in which you then saught truth and value, that made you come to hear me. And it is because there are many people who are not fools and only want “to be shown”, but in spite of the convections of institutions, there has always been a place open for me, although there has never been a time that failure has not been predicted.

You Are a Song In This World

Posted by on Jan 17, 2005 in Art, Artists, Books | One Comment

He was a teacher at the Art Students League and this book compiles inspirational lectures that he gave to his students…. He sought to instill in his students a passion for art, received from direct experience of life. “The Art Spirit: Notes, Articles, Fragments of Letters and Talks to Students, Bearing on the Concept and Technique of Picture Making, the Study of Art Generally, and on Appreciation (Icon Editions)” (Robert Henri, Margery Ryerson (Editor)) Today’s art thought is from a lecture he gave about the artist Mary Rodgers.

Sculpture of the Day – The Farmer

Posted by on Dec 26, 2004 in Art, Books | No Comments

Van Gogh Museum: Collection: Aimé Jules Dalou (1838-1902) The Farmer, 1902 Bronze, 197 x 70 x 68 cm Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (Vincent van Gogh Foundation) V 100 V/1995 This life-size bronze peasant rolling up his sleeves is a fine example of Realism in sculpture. There is no idealisation in the French sculptor Dalou’s representation of the man with his simple work clothes, sunken cheeks and sombre, dejected expression…. This figure of a peasant was intended for a project which occupied the sculptor during the final years of his life, the never completed Monument to labour.