Pay attention.
Far easier said than done.
The world goes by in a blur of repetitive motion.
The spinning clock hands only push me to get there, to get somewhere.
Paying attention is for vacations and accidents.
Be astonished.
I like that. Curiosity and wonder turn into astonishment.
My eyes need to be open in order to be astonished. So does my mind.
It's a refrain I return to over and over and over again. Eyes wide open allows me to take images in.
Mind wide open allows me to really see things as they are.
Tell about it.
That's another process all together.
Impossible sometimes to tell about what I see, what I know.
Maybe because I don't see, don't know.
I can't find the words for these things sometimes.
Painting speaks to me but most other people don't understand it.
I get that. You have to be in my mind to get what is on the paper.
Even sometimes that doesn't work.
I know.
Well, that Mary Oliver must have seen me coming, with her "Tell about it."
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, I'd trade my oldest son for that painting at which I am looking, right at the bottom of "Instructions." CASEY! Front and center.
What I meant to say was, as your world "goes by in a blur of repetitive motion," you still have to walk past the rose bushes to get to your car. Stop and take a quick peek/sniff, and maybe you can break up that repetitive motion. Or mix plenty of noteworthy experiences in with the mundane, like painting pictures such as the one above. If that's what you call repetitive motion, I'd like a heaping helping of that for my palate, thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteI have been drooling over that painting again...I even figured out that I can keep it on Terra Jean's screen, and word process at the same time. Am I talented or what?
ReplyDeleteI'm back, because I keep remembering things I forgot to say. You said, above, "Painting speaks to me but most other people don't understand it."
ReplyDeleteSpeaking for myself, when I see a painting, such as one I am looking at right now, I can only assure you that it is not important that I "understand" it, only that I be able to see it.
You wait, Mark the Shark! You wait until it gets matted and framed - wow! it is perfect for you. It is about expanding your mind...or alternatively, reining your mind in....
ReplyDeleteI don't know if my mind is coming or going, so let's get that straight. I thought I was seeing a picture of the sun, only viewed with a slightly different perspective.
ReplyDeleteHa! That's great.... maybe you should see it in person! I love you!
ReplyDeleteI just realized that your piece provided a self-fulfilling prophecy for me: You advised me, through Mary Oliver, to be astonished. There, at the bottom of the post, was something for me, at which to be astonished. The artiste at work...
ReplyDeleteBe astonished. I like that.
ReplyDeleteI am astonished that we can continue to pretend that we are what we are not... Or vice versa (when is vice worser?)
ReplyDeleteThe only thing that I pretend to be, that I am definitively not, is able-bodied. I won't apply that same logic to my mental abilities. I may pretend to be able-minded, but not be fooling anyone. When is vice worser? When you get caught.
ReplyDeleteYou two are killing me! xoxoxoxoxoxo
ReplyDeleteBetter than you killing yourself m'dear...
ReplyDeleteGood point Mark
Thank-you. I try to keep my hair parted to one side, so that no one notices the point.
ReplyDelete