Bridging the Chasm

·          Art is a struggle to communicate.  And I don't mean that in a negative way.  The poem below perhaps explains what I am trying to say better than I can say it in prose.  Note:  Broca's aphasia, also known as expressive aphasia, is caused by damage to the anterior regions of the brain.  Sufferers of this type of aphasia have difficulty initiating speech and writing.  Both are often labored and halting.  This poem was inspired by the trash truck that wakes me up every weekday morning as it empties the dumpster across the street at the school, proving that poetic inspiration can come from anywhere!

AS THOUGH SUFFERING FROM BROCA'S APHASIA

Five a.m. brings the roar, the bump,

the backing up of the truck

that dumps the trash across the street

as I slip from sleep to memory

and catalogue events since

yesterday's waking.

Silently I call to you as all around us

bodies fall through the dark

hoping to be caught by another's surprise.

I imagine collective shadows as they

dive--choreographed, practiced, perfected.

Joined by mystery, they strive for divinity

and struggle to speak without words.

Because I cannot say, I stumble through the day

refusing to take sacred images at face value,

and I strain to remember, when

as plentiful as pain,

as coincidental as night bugs

smeared on glass,

the ties between future and past

were most clear in that sharp intake of breath--

when I was severed from my wings.

Words fail, systems fail, 

still we are soundlessly bound

by these golden connections.

Compulsively examining each link of the chain,

ever hungry for the comfort of noise,

we need an endless stream of illusion,

a believable dream of grace

and the certainty of imaginable sequels.

“Bridging the Chasm” the painting that accompanies today's blog, has a story behind it.  My studio is located in a century old building a block off the town square.  A couple of years ago, one of the old drug stores on the square was demolished to make way for a new coffee house.  I observed the renovation process and was intrigued when the original brick walls were uncovered and the cigarette ads that had been painted on them several generations earlier were revealed.  Before the new construction began, I assisted a photographer friend of mine with a fashion shoot set inside the shell of the old drug store.  The model was a young woman who had designed her own line of clothing.  The canvas, which was inspired by the photos taken that day, shows the model looking back into the past as she launches herself into what she hopes will be a bright future.  The irony of the piece is that she turns her back on the observer instead of turning her back on the past.  The resulting pose is indeed one of confidence bordering on arrogance.  Set against the backdrop of the turn-of-the-century cigarette ads, the modern iconic model is seen potentially as an all-conquering giantess.  Due to the viewer’s angles, however, the female figure is also simultaneously objectified.  Note:  The dimensions of this painting are 72"x48", making it a bit bigger than life.

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