(Caw....the first painting eye finished after the trip....)
in my
previous sleeping life
eye lived
in this city
of bright shiny thingks
tried as hard
as eye could
to keep up with the game
and left up
to my own device
prolly would still be there
doing the same
but fate stepped in
and
a dragon lady
fired my life twice
(it would take two times for a hard headed sort like me)
and sent me
on this
slow meandering path
into the desert
pp#p3399*
but for me
new york
is still full
of the sweet devils
on all the dark streets
and all the angels
are still on top
of the forever buildings
(albeit still slightly out of reach)
each with a syringhe
full of
what will turn you on
and what will scare the
hell out of you
depending on
what you are up for.....
so if you
decide
to live
in this city
that doesnt blink
beware your
dreams and nightmares
will have
no place to rest
as
eye walked amongst the busy
iwonderd
can you
survive as a fool
in new york
wearing your funny hat
in this lovely illusion
where all the wise men
seem to know exactly
where and when
they are rushing to
and what of the salary man?
can you live
in new york
as a mediocre man
(or possibly a hu-man)
and
not be disappointed
when you hair begins
to retreat
your belly sag
and you've yet to
be named on page six
or make your first
100 million?
(one million just dont cut it anymore)
but then
how can an artist
live in new york?
or
how can an artist
not live in new york?
it is the city
of
constant yearning for some
constant burning for others .....
one thing
i noticed about the city
since pre 9-11
was the sameness....
things have gotten
richer and a bit more
samedness
and lots of the moms and pops
eye remember
are long gone...
this is a famous painting
by jackson pollack
at the metropolitan musuem of modern art
(MOMMA)
here are a couple by the another famous dead man
pablo picasso
who paintd things
from two eyes and one head
here we have
mr andy warhol and claes oldenberg
if my art was in this room
even i could look good
someone snuck up on me when eye was
admiring a jean dubuffet painting
i have admired his work since about 2003
drawing and writing in central park
i tried to get some fancy gallerys
to look at my work
but as usual folks in new york
and the other
important places always seem
ask for the password
as seen from top of the empire state building
something is missing from this image
that was seared into my
pictoral vocabulary
in ways that were
far deeper than i realized
this is the world trade center site where
they are rebuilding
a building to the same height mostly
of the previous building...
i can only hope that if there was something to be learned
from this
we have learnt it