by Dan Brady
copyright 1996
First, the picture and graphic nature of a moment recorded so accurately as to put the listener in the shoes of the reader as they experienced that moment, and so we have things like this:
Afternoon, dusty sidewalk, grit sounds underfoot
with each step, sweat movesor:
Roses on the waft
through the broken old door
open to spring airBut then, again there is more to art than the simple recording of events, there is the symbolic found in the natural object. A transcendent communication that because of its deep symbolic nature, the subject of the poem, is only obliquely hinted at, and yet clear on a subconscious or intuitive level, this is hard to describe. The only way I can explain this kind of poem is that some people will respond to this kind of poem with the attitude that although it seems to makes sense, hang together, is true, beautiful, or complete, they will be vague about its message. Much like the persons who view gallery art and may like this or that, quite a bit, but not be able to put a real finger on just what it is that makes a particular painting more appealing.
flame rose, yellow base
with a lick up the center of red
thin indigo at the petal's edge...
Here again both approaches are combined the ordinary and the symbolic:
white pickup loaded
to the racks with building supplies the
man and boy look ahead, smiling
Which leads us to the kind that is a blending of the two: but in a gentler, more balanced way:
June, under the eaves
of the abandoned school
the nestling calls
That one involves the season of Summer; this one involves Winter:
winter morning:
icicles hang from the eaves -
drops fall sparkling with sunlightAnd so it is that the usual, or simple moments are captured because of some ineffable essence motivates the artist to do so and this desire to create cause the artwork to be produced. Its meaning, however, becomes clearer only upon its recording, reworking, and the artist's reflections upon it. Once the inspirational moment has been processed so and, in the case of written work, has been read aloud, the artisan takes over and tinkers with it a bit, changing or rearranging the formal piece of art until the editing process produces a finished piece that satisfies the artist in that the urge to capture the inspirational moment formally has met with success.
This does not mean it is finished. At this point, what comes next in any piece of artwork is the performance or exhibition. It is here that the artist has an opportunity to find out if they are able to successfully establish communication of that special moment to an audience.
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