strong hair by c’babi bayoc. acrylic on canvas. i am always blown by his work.
c’babi’s website is here and he tweets… bayoc and his wife reine own a organic, and very vegan friendly bakeshop and art cafe in st. louis called sweet art. more info about that project here. they are a beautiful pair.
To See or Not To See
Mediocre media meddlesome and controlling
internet savagery savvy with its mastery
solicited salacious slander
slit tongue in cheek
sneaky in delivery
slippery innuendos
wet with wry wit
Don’t pardon the pundits
how dumb can someone be
in finding fun
from 15 minutes of infamy
the cost to be a hot commodity
comes with serious third degree burns
caused by a furnace fueled by hell’s fire
so quick to tell sinister crossroad demons
all your heart’s desire
then offering your soul
in exchange for earthly riches
and unforgivably forgetting
the most obvious truth
the devil’s a liar
So what now is your fantasy
your plan to be
more than you can possibly
achieve
in one lifetime
many minds fail to see
the sweet simplicity
of this tried and true maxim:
Live your own life
and not vicariously
through others
whose only reality
is what’s contrived
by dimwits and charlatans
nonsense writers and conspiring actors
in debt to hedonistic pursuits
parlayed into profiting off of
ignorance displayed on tv
or across movie screens
where we are pushed to the limits
of moral bankruptcy in a society
catering to anxiety and animus
as though any sense of direction is scoffed at
like it’s a barrier against self-expression
and our only self-defense mechanism
is not to willingly and blindly
give in to this superficial system
So turn off the radios and ipods
put the android phones and ipads down
let your mind go
free
as a matter of fact
turn off the internet
after you finish reading this
obviously
then reflect internally
if not for an extended time
then for a brief moment
at least a few times a week
and engage in an internal dialogue
on what it means to live
as a human
being …
essentially, life is
our responsibility
the will and the way
to see or not to see
on what it means to ‘be’
your self.
There are people who love to borrow money and hate to pay it back … Me? I hate borrowing money, but I love to pay it back. There’s a difference between being broke and having a poor mentality. The former can be temporary setback whereas the latter more often than not is an ongoing self-fulfilling prophecy.
Bob Marley on how to love a woman
“You may not be her first, her last, or her only. She loved before she may love again. But if she loves you now, what else matters? She’s not perfect - you aren’t either, and the two of you may never be perfect together but if she can make you laugh, cause you to think twice, and admit to being human and making mistakes, hold onto her and give her the most you can. She may not be thinking about you every second of the day, but she will give you a part of her that she knows you can break - her heart. So don’t hurt her, don’t change her, don’t analyze and don’t expect more than she can give. Smile when she makes you happy, let her know when she makes you mad, and miss her when she’s not there.”- Bob Marley
Lunartist - Tribute to MJ
by Kevin Bishop
Uncomfortable in his skin
since adolescence,
he could not face
the inevitable role
of getting old.
This ghost of a man
who once attempted
to heal the world
singing songs to the Earth,
“We are the world”
Words inspired
by a giving tree
in a land never far
from his heart
until driven away,
forced to depart.
“Who is it?”
Born and memorialized
on a full moon,
a mortal lies
dead waiting
to be immortalized.
Got to be there,
got to be there
in the mourning
as the world said goodbye
to this soul.
He, who famously walked
backwards above men,
dazzling many eyes
with a glittering glove
extended to heights
never before reached.
But even he
could not overcome
the burden
of being pulled down
under the devil’s duress.
A half century of suffering,
he could not rest;
sleepless nights
made his nerves a wreck.
Defeated,
he could not
beat it!
The relentless attack
of the insomniacs,
pale zombies danced
while looking through
the looking glass at
the man in the mirror
filled with half-empty
feelings
enflamed
hair in flames
sparked the metamorphosis
this slight figure changed
color like a chameleon,
who camouflaged
with the pale face of the moon.
Success an illusion
for lunatics using
camera tricks
and catchy melodies
masking multiple-personalities
left perplexed in the Metropolis
forming a mirage too complex
to comprehend,
the inner child suppressed
chanting and raving, screaming,
“They don’t really care about us!”
Endlessly tormented
by childhood memories
begging them to please,
“Leave me alone!”
Torture the discrete technique;
prerequisite programming done
by insidious principalities,
he was not alone.
But no one’s remotely aware
that the Peter files
marked classified
has conveniently disappeared
through the ceiling door.
Can’t you see
how he was closed in?
Turn the key
round and round,
find out how
the son of Jack
was forced back in-
to the box.
Remember the time
when he first said,
“It was a conspiracy?”
So that’s the way
the money goes.
Pop goes the weasel,
the King is dead!
RIP Michael Joseph Jackson
(August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009)
New Job Anxiety?
Unquestionably, monumental challenges lay ahead of me and even though I’ve accomplished an arduous goal, I’m yet again faced with uncertainty of my capabilities to go above and beyond the expectations of excellence.
Anything new often times comes with doubt, when a person wonders how he or she will manage to pull off a feat never before faced. There’s no tangible reference point to rely on and there’s very little margin for error, if any.
What is corporate culture? Is that not an oxymoron? Over these last few weeks (leading up and on into my first day at work) for some reason I already feel the stringency of conformity and an alarming stress of my creative energy dwindling.
The stakes are high, pressure is mounting, time to climb another mountain, but this time it’s steeper and much higher. I’ve made a couple of missteps already and that was attributed to slow acclimation on my part. I tend to take my time early on in any new experience, but it doesn’t look like I have the luxury to do so in my current environment. I have to increase my responsiveness and attention to detail more than ever before.
Anyone else experience this and what did you do to work your way through it?
If the new American father feels bewildered and even defeated, let him take comfort from the fact that whatever he does in any fathering situation has a fifty percent chance of being right.
– Bill CosbyÀ propos
All caught up and in the black. Looking forward and not back.
