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RuiNation (Plastinate Diorama)

Filed under: History, Philosophy, Science — 74 Comments

September 24, 2012

Jeff Ball (c) 2010 – Used with permission

dissection commences upon these
orphans of ideology
birthed of greed and invention
razor wire twined minds
inoculated against thought
suffering attachment disorders
imprecations rain when drawn near
our distended bellies emetic fed

military industrial complex choke-chain
asphyxiates a discernible truth,
speak for us we moan
as our mouths are sewn shut –
who threaded this needle?

the omniscient coroner sings:
humanity is a crooked timber
from which no straight thing
can be built (or imagined)

twisted images spin the picture
like crime scene photos
of abundance and stability
politicians and CEOs mistake
words of confidence for reality,
monuments of ego for power

missiles of tyranny
parading as democracy
mere echoes of Pericles’ stones
immuring liberty
flags dyed in blood from
renewable resources
(the marginalized and foreign)
nourishing the warmongers

in the ethical wasteland
these post-apocalyptic landscapes
leveled playing (killing) fields
are littered with mutilated animals
and fetid dead tossed in mass graves
waiting to be tallied by infallible machines

selected from the masses
the coroner’s team prepares to plastinate
stages of fixation, dehydration
forced impregnation, and hardening begin

pumping formalin through our arteries
removing skin, our fatty and connective tissue
a baptism in acetone
precedes vacuum impregnation
silicone rubber penetrates each cell

we are now posed, death grimaces
cured with gas, light, and heat
to a preserved splendor
harnessed for display

coroner proclaims science
has become more beautiful than art
our diorama, a stripped Arc,
impoverished ecology frozen in time
a testament to its endeavor –
technological mutations
of philosophy’s thunder

this towering foundation of Platonic ideals
denatures with rot, denies human striving
an exit wound embedded with fragments of skull
terrors devour and obliterate rationality
massive impersonal forces rumble
demarcating the territory where
vacuous monsters spew acid
dissolving thin barriers of freedom
as the great experiments fail

Notes: This is a significantly expanded rewrite of my poem Dystopia, previously posted in April 2012. If you’d like to better understand plastination you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plastination. Also, thank you to Jeff Ball, my best friend, for the use of his photograph from the exhibition I had the honor of naming, RuiNation. More of his stunning photography can be viewed here: http://jeffballphotography.com/.

Tags: poetry

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Boundless Magnolia

Filed under: Art, Love, Personal, Philosophy, Tribute — 57 Comments

September 20, 2012

Magnolia Blossoms by Anna Montgomery

For Immanuel Kant

I persevere
in this shallow depth of field
art of perception
keeps me anchored,
floating in the halation
of your poetry

in the Japanese tea garden
I traverse the half-moon
bridge to nowhere

sublimity of the formless
blurred image becomes
my method of loci

memories of belonging
to you, to the world
through my embodied perspective
surround me

fingertips trace your shadows
phantoms cast in my peripheral vision
sensitivity amplified
to unbearable heights

all sounds are blown mute

left with complex silence
eidetic imagery of you
like the sun ghost
burning beneath closed lids

ephemeral spaces alight
in the tinted ambiguity
nuances of hue illuminate
this interplay of epiphenomena

as if an absence of psychology is possible

specificity of time and place diffuse
opposites now lose focus through erasure
circle of confusion defines my
travel without passage

aporia breaks the logic of identity
into a deep, silent wonder

no longer aware of my limitations
philosophical puzzles denature
self engulfs grand sensation

I am a boundless magnolia
celestial body, fertile,
[untranslatable]
without a cipher
ever distant/ever close

your immersion ignites
heat flushes my face
a sweet release
mystic union

encountering the limits of language
a border kissing the initiation of bliss
encompassing all, alone/together
as I was then, as I often am
seeing anew:

moral freedom is gained from conquering fear

here lies the hunger and the nourishment
heartbeat within and without
creative impulse and its fruition

I am forever mutable
melting in the presence of beauty

Posted in response to Claudia’s truly inspiring Meeting The Bar prompt on Beautiful Solitude: http://dversepoets.com/2012/09/20/meetingthebar-beautiful-solitude/

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Falling Leaves

Filed under: Art, History, Mythology, Philosophy, Tribute — 53 Comments

September 3, 2012

Miyamoto Musashi Killing a Giant Nue by Utagawa Kuniyoshi

‘I have not followed the paths of other men. I have lived without the benefit of a teacher and by my own devices I became master of myself and thereby master of the sword and the brush never differentiating between any of these arts.’ – Musashi (1584-1645), Japanese Kensei, author of the Book of Five Rings

Fierce Shout: Before battle to unsettle the enemy!

Book of Earth

No man is invincible
there is only honor and dishonor,
his death written in the calligraphic ink of his study

Endeavor to know all things
becoming more aware of the world
an essential strategy to defeat the enemy

The work is more important than the worker
you are the spiritual conduit
become one who sees what cannot be seen

Book of Water

All life is the battlefield, focus your intent
the brushstrokes and strikes of practice
are not separate from their execution in life

Man and brush have one purpose
communion with the spirit of the thing, this is the
way of the warrior, sword embodying the soul of the samurai

Be as falling leaves, with no preconceived notions
Stab the heart with your expansive mind
Extend your spirit above the enemy

Fierce Shouts: Each time you strike, to maintain your resoluteness of spirit!

Book of Fire

In mortal combat you must fight to win
mean what you are doing, otherwise
you are performing tricks

Always control the enemy
keep him on the defensive, draw him to you,
be stronger in spirit and resolve

Cross the ravine with the courage of your convictions
impress your attitude upon the world
force imbalance, taking others by surprise

Book of Wind

Clever people do not understand
temperance of spirit, their tricks and false attitudes
are very dangerous to the uninformed mind

Do not be afraid to get in close
attack with power not strength
with quickness not speed

Your attitude at all times is to attack
practice with the spirit of killing the enemy
meditate on this way of strategy

Fierce Shout: In victory to honor the spirit of the thing itself!

Book of Mu (No-Thing)

The spirit of the universe is an emptiness
which is no-thing, man can have no
understanding of this place

Everything is revealed
to all men as they desire it to be revealed,
by their own definitions alone

True no-thing-ness is Mu,
the universe in relation to your art
and your art in relation to the universe

Everything is within, everything exists,
seek nothing outside yourself,
you are the spirit of the thing itself!

Tomb on Mount Iwato

‘With every note
of the mountain temple
sunset bell
sorrow arises as
day turns dark’*

*Japanese Woman Poet,
10th Century

Connected to the best pub on the web for poetic delights: http://dversepoets.com/2012/09/04/open-link-night-week-60/

Tags: poetry

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