just another detroit artist

2012-01-24T15:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, it's been years...I had little to say

2008-06-03T07:58:00.000-07:00

Again the ache wakes me too early
To have just five more minutes
Serial-like morning as in again
Again
It was too much to sleep through
So if that is what is afforded to me,
The lock down of these hands
To an agreement
Hills barren,
Stripped of furs
Only small patches of thorn bush

Strike the bells
As to remind us of this spell
It can break,
Even still there is always an antidote

2008-02-18T06:02:00.000-08:00

Seven years ago today he woke up blind. A few months and several doctors later he moved, with the help of his brother, to this dank apartment building designated for people with his needs. The mornings were the most difficult. He would always forget the he could not longer see. Today he sat up in bed; eyes closed, wondered for the first time where he was, what this room looked like, and then why these thoughts had not occurred to him before. The room was a mystery to him, like every place was now. What color was the carpet? What could you see from the window?
The walls are patchy. Missing paint exposing a gray-cement like white that cuts broken eggshell shadows. Light breaking through a small space between the drawn curtains and land angled across the bed and the spots on the floor create abstract patterns, muddy colors pinned down under footsteps, ground in permanently.
A painting of begonias in a glass vase hangs quietly above the headboard, the somber colors and bowed appearance complement the heavy air, it too, like this room, has aged with time and season, lost its renitence, given into complacence. He inhales the culmination of hundreds of past occupants, a bouquet of unsavory and nauseating odors that wet the eyes and alienate the nose. Every few minutes he hears the sound of a passing subway through the walls. Does dust shake its dormant state and flows slowly through the stagnant air? He knew there is an armchair in the corner of the room; is its seat shallow, the upholstery pooling in a loose puddle of fabric at its center? Are there places that are worn through exposing woolen threads and a foam lining that crumbles in the hand? Next to the chair is a small table with a lamp perhaps. Does is have a cream color shade? Maybe a green geenie with silver painted tassels reclines or maybe there is one of those homemade ashtrays that have the name Jim Carter 6th grade carved into its bottom.
He touches the bedspread. It has a layer of film over it. Is it striped green and brown or is it covered with tiny yellow flowers; maybe it’s plain. The nightstand holds a clock, is it flashing annoyingly? Compelled, he rises, arms outstretched, feeling for the wall. He turns his face toward the ceiling, are their rust colored stains on it or larger places where the plaster is altogether missing? Are the wooden slats exposed, half rotting running lengthwise? He imagines the paint around the holes pealing in big chunks and hanging in triangular sections. He begins to move his hands over the wall. He touches everything in the room. He gets down on the floor, crawls on his hands and knees, grazes over each fiber. He moves to the window, which he has never even opened before. He unlatches and with some effort opens it. He holds his hands out, feels the weight of the air. He stands there for some time. The corners of his mouth break their seven year silence and arch back into two crescent moons. Their dormant muscles awaken from atrophy. He is surprised to feel pleased. He knows tomorrow he will still be blind, but now he knows, he can still see.

2007-12-27T16:54:00.002-08:00

Shale stones
One upon another
Trees torn in half
A storm roll through here last night
Superior water rose
Spitting liquid fire
Earth moved
Spilling dirt and rock
On the bleached sands
The turbulence blues rocking fiercely
Rises up to meet the newly exposed bones
There is the sand earth and water speak
Natural tough
Water slides around rock
Rock shifts
A watery dance in sues
To a repeating cadence
Dipping and swaying
Twirling
Pulsating
Bobbing
They are breathless now
And before anyone notices
The water recedes
The rocks rest
All traces
In the sand washed away

2007-12-27T16:54:00.001-08:00

out there it is dark and lonely
but I have been there before
Spent hours in darkness
Eyes shut tight
Mind holed and knotted
Arms tense
Toes curled
Heart
Heavy
Out there it is cold and hard
But I have been there before
Clasping hands
Rubbing them together
Creating warmth
Finding shelter
Lifting stones and boards
And Out there is the air
And life
I have inhaled it
tasted of earths brown skin
I have seen birth and death
It is yours and mine
Beyond the lash
Over hills
Through woods
A river bends
A small bird sits on a branch above looking down
At her reflection
Silently
What is it that she sees?
Rushing by
Her image distorting
She doesn’t recognize her face
Fractions of color split
As she flaps her wings
The clear water absorbing the moment as she disappears in to the endless
sky

2007-12-27T16:52:00.000-08:00

I see so much more now
How you loved me and
Why
I feel something strange
I feel a small space
Growing between us
Did you forget?
Or just remember
That space feels good
Space is clear and
Open
there can be beautiful moments
When you look through the space and see things out there
Like a tree in the yard
You can see it only because there is distance between you an it
Space is good
You can move things around
You can move around
It an be a large space or small
Space can be in your mind
And not at all
Space
Space
Space
Space
Space
Space is……..
Space is……
Space is
Space

2007-10-11T14:36:00.000-07:00

Still your breath
it
is
tight
constricted
your let your words sail across the sky
now they are lost to you
the words move though everything
you are sad that you said them
you cry out to get them back
but the words can't change their minds
they are just what they say they are

2007-06-29T14:34:00.000-07:00

Click To Play

2007-06-21T08:28:00.000-07:00

night is lying against the day
day is ok with this
they don't fight
just move together
like friends
they can not be lovers
they must maintain a bit of space
they can not tangle
they can only meet at that place
where borderlines
are
a
horizon

2007-06-21T08:13:00.000-07:00

it is beautiful
it is a fire
like that of a five alarm
it is an icy slope
a dark tunnel
a light at the end
my rock
my chain
you are so you
and you can't change that
you are as hard as concrete
thick blocked glass
solid steal
you are
magic
angry
honest
hurtful
hopeful
my lover
my friend
i take back from you only one thing
everything else you can keep

2007-06-13T15:20:00.001-07:00

my mother's hands are unfamiliar
i look at them now
i see how time has changed them
how the sun has cracked and freckled them
the once nibble fingers fight against the joint
thin
frail
i want to know those hands
know them wrapped around me
holding me
even now
i long for them
to fall softly across my face
comb slowly through
my hair
spreading over her lap
i write these words for you mom
i welcome your belated embrace
i am ready
are you?

2007-06-06T23:33:00.001-07:00

2007-06-06T23:29:00.001-07:00

Here are some more pictures

the mountains

2007-06-06T22:22:00.001-07:00

It has been a long time since I checked in. I when up north to the mountains and it was amazing. I have written a few new pieces that I am working on. I hope to have more to share soon. Here is a photo from that time.

sore eyes see

2007-04-04T13:35:00.000-07:00

sore eyes
see
complacent
souls
walking in time
vacant
unfeeling
unmoved
lost to love
far from compassion
thrown from the cliff
by fault of their own
sore eyes
see
tears on a child's face
falling like burning leaves
leaf upon leaf
laying layered on the ground
waiting for winter to freeze them
then waiting for the spring thaw
to awaken there flow
so they may seep into the ground
watering the seeds that will
become this vacant adult
we all seem to become
sore eyes
see
hot rage ripening
like fruit of a sour taste
irregularly shaped apple
pocked and bleeding
white blood
I sit under this tree of pain
feeling the drip
that is void of color
plain
it
burns again
runs into my mouth
filling my throat
moving toward my center
i can not move
over come by this moment
i look to the sky for comfort
there is none
sore eyes
see

2007-02-26T17:54:00.001-08:00

this is the time
for love
this is the time
for peace
Cause how many times
will we allow it to be taken
it just what they want us to do

this is the time
for strength
for wisdom
we can ignore
the war that we are in
and I know someplace deep it hardens your heart

how many times
will it take
our people
and when i
say this i mean
all people
there is a price
for peace

it will cost
understanding
and compassion
honesty
humility

this is the time
for action
to raise our voices
so raise your voice and be heard

throw down your guns
wipe your tears
stop wasting your life living in fear

we must stand up and be counted
to be silent now is going to cost us
much more than money.
much more
one life lost
is too great a number

we must stand up for one another
speak loud and clear
gather together
and lets hope it isn't to late

outside my window
there are no bullets skying
but i still feel them pierce my skin
when they fly

Why is is so
that it must be in
your back yard
for you to see
its just what they they want you to see

sometimes i close my eye and pretend
we are all sitting around remember when
there were wars
and destructing
and slavery
and hate

2007-02-26T17:54:00.000-08:00

this is the time
for love
this is the time
for peace
Cause how many times
will we allow it to be taken
it just what they want us to do

this is the time
for strength
for this wisdom
we can ignore
the war that we are in
and I know someplace deep it hardens you heart

how many times
will it take
our people
and when i
say this i mean
all people
there is a price
for peace

it will cost
understanding
and compassion
honesty
humility

this is the time
for action
for to raise our voices
so raise your voice and be heard

throw down your guns
wipe your tears
stop wasting y
our life living in fear

we must stand up and be counted
to be silent now is going to cost
much more than money.
much more
one life lost
is too great a number

we must please stand up for one another
speak loud and clear
gather together
and lets hope it isn't to late

that's just what they want you to do

outside my window there are no bullets skying
but i still feel them pierce my skin when they fly
oh another way we could try

Why is is so
that it must be in
your back yard
for you to see
its just what they

sometimes i close my eye and pretend
we are all sitting around remember when
there were wars
and destructing
and slavery
and hate

I just wanted to write and not think

2007-02-12T16:45:00.000-08:00

Wild wind blows
through cat-tails
and willow branches
the hair on my arms
stand up
look and see
a ripe sky red
clouds shaped like
planes
rain falling like bullets
like me
like frogs carved from
rock
standing still
waiting
while
rivers bulged
lakes swell
oceans churn
moving in a brutish dance
their waves
tipped with steel
there under toes
fitted with iron
thunder crashes in time
lighting cuts the sky in half
canyon stretch
cracking in the tender places
allowing the rage to flow out
like a glorious elephant
running rampant
plowing down
the
ones
who
hurt
and
rip
and
take
who here will be left standing when the sun again shows its face?

2007-02-10T13:38:00.000-08:00

Slow
moving
red
tide
a
scooner
blue
and
gold
tiny
hands
pull
up
the
sails
and
the
wind
is
there
ready
to
greet
them
pushing
against
tarp
which
spreads
roundly
over
the
begining
of
the
gush
together
they
connect
with
taut
benevolence
the
sails
with
their
bright
bold
colors
covering
the
face
of
the
wind
but
the
sails
would
never
know
their
glory
with
out
the
colorless
wind
that
fills
them
and
moves
their
tiny
boat
over
the
silvery
sea

untitled

2007-02-04T10:53:00.000-08:00

slits between
boards reveal
blood and gut
bone and Marrow
bared
exposed
ripping them away
stepping into
a river
it pulls
with force
submerges
in red rush
all time present
slide on slide
projected
blending
overlapping
histories
matter melds into a
deep rich mud
comforting
a culmination
of boundlessness
beautiful
complete
blackness

2007-02-02T13:12:00.000-08:00

breaking waves
tears
grip
washed out skin
leveled ground
with in
with out
insight
timeless
glass and stone
revoulution
ripping
insides
hold out hands
ginger
rage
shredding
pain
in
the
gut
fences
defences
splintered
tight lipped
pulling on britlle
everything
the rope
nothing
illution
comfort
reflections
a
broken
egg
fledgling
the beggining
end point
a trail
a destination
a thy
a finger
godless children do go to heaven

For my own viewing pleasure

2006-09-18T18:35:00.000-07:00

I
looked
over
into
my
lovers eyes
fixed
distant
mountain
reflect
internal
glorious
ridges
deep
burning
sky
like
painted
clouds
in
rose
egglant

rebirth

2006-09-06T19:40:00.000-07:00

Rolling
sliding
through
still
water
black
walls
comfort
protect
hold
allowing
freedom
I
am
reborn
with
each
turn
gently
swaying
back
and
forth
cradled
by thick
honey
soft notes
reach
out
vibrating
with in
a pool
waves
move
rich
lava
hot
and
alive
where
sound
moves
with
motion

a work in progress

2006-08-27T12:13:00.000-07:00

This is the beginning of my first blog........stay posted