guns...

somewhat ironic that the senate struts into the news
in the drag of whores
painted for the pleasures of artillery mavens
and rednecks
a day after the bombs of boston.

for a sad nation, a nation in mourning,
this is a sad wake up call for how fucked we are.

there is little shame in the reality
of how ugly an ignorant coalition of foolishness can be.

guns? what of them?
by the time i was 9 i'd fired more heavy firepower
than many of the losers screaming for more.
an army brat-- much time was spent on the range
with my father and his troops
and his friends and their beer
and the sounds of those fabulous engines of destruction.

my first gun was a gift for my 9th birthday...

where am i going with this?

good question...

sanity is something that can easily be questioned by the mad.
reality is but a dream to the lost...

more importantly,

those bringing up the 2nd amendment
don't understand the language
or, indeed, the intent...

i enjoy knives. sharpening them, honing the blade;
flipping them open childishly at inappropriate times...
i don't need a broadsword to bring home
the point of my enthusiasm or my skill.

a man needs a rifle to hunt. or, if not a rifle, a good bow;
an ability to trap, or amazing speed and strong teeth...
no person on earth
(outside of professional grade killers and soldiers)
needs the ability to fire more
than a few rounds in as many seconds.

but they argue FREEDOM...

what horrible nonsense...

what a disgrace to language and sacrifice--
the sacrifice of thousands before us.

there are "men" who don't know how to love
or how to cry
or how to cook a meal with passion...
there are "men" whose lives
revolve with the channels
on the television of their dreams.
these are the men
who cry for the steel
of firepower
to swell their sagging manhood
and bolster their shelter
against a world
too strong
and growing
far too intelligent...

so, as my mother reads books with
(not to) my unsleeping 21 month old
she-warrior, i ponder on authenticity.
the notion of experience,
reality-- cooking the food you eat--
perhaps growing it. or, indeed, killing it...

there is little within the muscular practice
of parenthood that lacks the authentic.
clearly, the tales of nannies and day care
do not quite play into this equation--
though (to be fair) there are exceptions.
however, when my child wakes-
my wife or i (or in this instance, my mother)
are there to care for her needs.
when the diapers are to be changed,
that rigorous endeavor is carried out
as a very personal experience
for all involved-- including, of course,
the violent prototype that is my child.

so, yes, authenticity... you make a painting.
say, spend 6 or 7 years
putting the paint on and taking it off;
figuring it out and fucking it up.
the compositions may come and go,
but the painting remains--
reflecting it's authenticity--

this object, large or small,
there before you under the work lights...

back to the present:

my daughter teases me with a smile,
lurching towards me only to turn
with a squeal back to her grandmother.
she holds cards she may never know she controls
(i can only hope she understands her power in later years.)...
sharing her monosyllabic poetry
she hustles between us,
as my mother numbers the diaper
changes of the day.

and we all smile...

we're just back from 2 weeks in LA.
the weather was what you would expect and need
(beautiful) and life was strong and heart-felt.
several large paintings that have been worked
and re-worked these last 6 years or so
are nearing a strange finality.
late nights of tequila and revery
under the orange tree
led to decisions based less on need than fancy--

color, why not??

and what of color?
is it the trial of material itself,
or the romance of metaphor--
the color perhaps felt,
but never seen?
the color seen but never named?

i wrote in an LA notebook last year
(as an admonishment to myself,
perhaps a command,
perhaps a request to revisit a notion
of what i felt could be lacking
in my art, in my way with color), 
that yellow could be as declarative
a statement as black--
the actuality of the yellow itself
becoming the subject matter of a work--
as the black of a work
could be said to do the same.

going out on a limb,
i'd say you can't say that of blue.
blue, by it's mythic nature
becomes the ocean,
the sky, the lost poem you never wrote
but kept saying you would,
once you had a chance...

and authenticity?

who knows?

at times (perhaps now)
i've been sidelined
by the adorable toddler
storming my home.
i type as one burdened
by a most beautiful truth.

what could be more authentic?