Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Start Laughing

if I hold on to what I love
my house is full
but eventually
I won't be able to move
or breathe

if I let go of what I love
my house is empty
I can move and breathe
but I will be alone...

but not lonely


I have a thousand brilliant lies

For the question:

How are you?

I have a thousand brilliant lies
For the question:

What is God?

If you think that the Truth can be known
From words,

If you think that the Sun and the Ocean

Can pass through that tiny opening Called the mouth,

O someone should start laughing!
Someone should start wildly Laughing –Now!

- Hafiz, Someone Should Start Laughing


Artwork - Marker and Colored Pencil, 2006.

10 comments:

  1. I'm laughing. And smiling.

    I'm quickly becoming addicted to your art and poetry. They're like home-baked cookies for the imagination, still warm out of the oven.

    What did you use to put color in that piece? Is it paint?

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  2. jenny describing the indescribable -well yeah it's going to mess a bit with the truth of the truth of the described that's for sure.
    it's like love. love flows. it can't be held. it just is. but words and pictures are all that we have so we share a little bit of the outside of what we know and trust that its purity will be revealed by a little digging beneath the words and the picture. just like hafiz did. he trusted the process. i love the image.
    have you used watercolour pencils? steven

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  3. If we bear in mind that "the truth" is by nature paradoxical and will elude being captured by words, images, music, thinking, feeling, etc. then we have less to say, and more to contemplate. Hafiz sure gets close, though, doesn't he? Wonderful post.

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  4. Since we are on the subject of the indescribable, I will not try to express my ineffable gratitude for all of your comments. My post reflects the stirring of my mind and heart, but I glean so much from each of your comments. Thank you, Pollinatrix, Steven and Dan!!
    Oh, and regarding the art. It is larger...about 8 x 10. I first put a layer of marker down. Then, I build up layers of colored pencil on top. It is a waxy pencil which gives is an opacity that is often mistaken for paint.

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  5. Yep! Prismacolor it is! I keep trying to find a different colored pencil, but nothing beats their blendability.

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  6. Well, you get wonderful results with them. Thanks for effing the ineffable.

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  7. Dan, I think "effing the ineffable" is one of the best expressions I've ever heard. I'm laughing again.

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  8. Now I am laughing, too! My mind has been bouncing back and forth all morning on all possible interpretations. Ahhh! The sacred and the profane - I love it!! It is endless amusement in finding one in the other.

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  9. Isn't it just? And somehow it seems to fit with the season - the whole messiness of incarnation, etc.

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