August 7 & 8, 2014 The Sunday Whirl/ At the Edge of All There Is/ Poetry Pantry/Imaginary Gardens with Real Toads

At the Edge of All There Is

I reside on the mesa there

Overlooking Taos Valley

Often Pueblo horses graze

Sleek and healthy

In the fields across the little dirt road

That meanders across the mesa

Can be followed all the way into town

At night when it is dark

After an eye’s wide open sunset

Red, yellow and gold

I often hear the sounds of bullets

Fired in the darkness

I’m not sure what or who is

Defending his home and family

Perhaps he dreams the ‘peoples’

Are being surrounded by ‘natives’

Perhaps he ‘saw’ something in the darkness

An unusual time for target practice

Or celebration…some say coyotes

The morning dismal

Overcast with grey clouds

Hiding the mountains from view

Another day to ‘try’

Meandering to the finish line

The day is planned

The completion is in sight

Upon completion

A new idea will be planted

As I work the idea grows

Becomes my future

I am keeping notes of my progress

It takes about six weeks

To complete a work

A spot ahead is designated

I am working toward it

Throwing the ball

Running to catch it

August 6, 2014

_______________________

Wonderland

As planned I did reach the finish line

Stepped back to take a look

It isn’t what I thought it would be

But I am foolish to think I knew

By now I should have learned

No matter what I think

The work has a mind of its’ own

And will be what it will be

The dominant color is green

Green of all living things

Of meadows and forests

Before the autumn color change

And green turns to gold

Accented with reds and oranges

Also as predicted

I am directed to the next project

I enter unknowing

Hopeful

A novice again

All that is known to me

Is to put one foot in front of another

And to continue to do this

Until a path is created

Something we both can see

My world is a wonderland

August 8^th, 2014

Top of Form

Bottom of Form

August 5, 2014 dVerse/Letter to a Group of 'Young' Artists

Letter to a Group of ‘Young’ Artists

I am writing you today

To express my sincere impression

Of our meeting yesterday

I had hoped for more...

Perhaps 'artists' with more experience

I am wondering

If you are an artist in transition

From a lifetime of doing something else

Perhaps it is too soon to call yourself an ‘artist’

What is an ‘artist’ after all

One who is focused on his work

One who is willing to sacrifice everything

For his work

You know

It is said it only takes three things

To be an ‘artist'

One is the desire to be

And most people have that

Two is the determination

A lot of people have that

But the one that really makes or breaks an ‘artist’

Is discipline

This is the ‘bugger boo’

For few artists have it

When you are just beginning

(And maybe an artist is always 'just beginning'

And in transition) it would be best

To create a body of work before you show the work

It is an insult to ask someone to look to your work

Or to speak to your work 

Before you have created it

To say....well I think I want to......

I’m going to.......

I hope to........

Show yourself who you are

For you really do have it all

A person who is interesting

Filled with light

And now you have the gift of time

All you have to do is to do it

Be yourself

Be your best self

Do the work you were meant to do

Do you have any idea how tired it is to drag out 'old' work

'Old' work that has been sleeping under a pile

All of its’ energy seeped out onto the pavement

It is nothing but yesterday’s tired experiment

With the visual arts

'It' shows

Everything shows

On its’ face everything is written

You do not fool anyone

I am showing my every stroke

My every attempt to be

My failures

My successes

There is no place to hide

Yesterday I had the feeling

I was with a group of ‘want-to-be’ artists

Not a group of hard working

Devoted artists

Artists who had answered the questions

For themselves

And were working on the answers

They had found for themselves

Each of you maybe 'artists' one day

But in my opinion it is to soon to tell

August 5, 2014

Note:  I do not mean to be unkind, but I think, perhaps people use the term 'artist' too loosely. Because you want to be an artist, doesn't make you an artist.  What is 'authentic,' comes with the work.  A person who is not sure, is a person who has not put in the work, the hours, the years.....is not an artist....yet.

August 3, 2014/Writer's Digest -- Family

Family

In the beginning

Mother and Daddy

Sisters Aunts and Uncles

Grandparents

Now almost all are gone

Now my family is

The sun and the moon

All the stars in the sky

And you

My special family

My best friend

You are the one

You are my family to me

August 3, 2014