Friday, March 5, 2010

Shrinking Possibilities


An empty canvas is full of potential.

Each stroke I paint shrinks the possibilities, though.

By the time I finish, I've stripped away every other painting except the one I end up with.

That's the one I hang on the wall.

1 comment:

  1. Here's one from my unpublished Film Catalog Manuscript:

    Mystère Picasso

    (1955) 75 Min. Henri-Georges Clouzot reveals Picasso's artistic process of painting over and over and over and over again. What is Picasso trying to hide?

    I begin with a line
    flung
    askew,
    sensual,
    drawing that line
    where it draws me
    to risk
    making sense any
    more than being gored
    by a bull

    *

    I slash without a care,
    knocked
    off time,
    unconscious,
    withdrawing that stare
    where it singes me
    to see,
    smashing sense no
    more than being touched
    by women

    *

    I collage around a nude
    laid
    out cold,
    flabby,
    spilling off the couch
    where touch reminds me
    to wallpaper
    blue mosaics even
    while being screwed
    from view

    *

    I deface my own mask,
    blown
    awry,
    rigid,
    savaging the mind
    where it saws me
    in half,
    burrowing earth even
    when being strung
    up wrong

    *

    I stoop beside the canvas,
    shocked
    anew,
    marveling,
    teasing that pulse
    where it erases me
    in dreams,
    smothering faults over
    more by being born
    again

    *

    I winnow out the excess
    dredged
    unhinged,
    ruthless,
    ruffling the predictable
    where it mimes me
    to mimic,
    softening the punch more
    often than being wounded
    by words

    *

    I upend the consensus,
    gleeful,
    off kilter,
    mischievous,
    staring down the stare
    where it dares me
    to dare,
    soiling oils more
    so than being limited
    by color

    *

    I testify to a jones,
    rad,
    flipped out,
    ahistorical,
    counterculturing the bourgeoisie
    where they nurture me
    to rave,
    brawling the flesh no
    more than being paranoid
    in jail

    *

    I rework the carcass,
    decomposed,
    wacko,
    incestuous,
    breeding the lice
    where they breed me
    to thrive,
    cubing the form no
    more than being transformed
    to form

    *

    I level in the stars,
    cunning,
    witless,
    curious,
    following the line
    where it aligns me
    to see,
    messing up more
    often than being awakened
    to awe

    Dr. Mike

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