Sunday, May 19, 2013

What Art Has Taught Me - A Poem

Copy change of What My Mother Taught Me by Melody Lacina.

It's late and I wrote this in approximately ten minutes and it's bad and I'm too tired to be thinking in flowy language.  At least it's honest I guess.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

What Art Has Taught Me


On sheafs of snowy college rule paper,
the little red line shows where notes end
and doodles begin.

Take pictures when you see
or think
of something beautiful.

Don’t be afraid to feel things sometimes.
It’s okay if your tears blur the pen ink
and it’s better to tear up paper than to tear up yourself.

Be aware of the world around you and pay attention to little things,
like orange rivers spilling out into a cat’s yellow irises,
or the way the light is hitting the elderly couple in the café corner.

Care too much about everything.
It hurts your heart a lot
but at least you can say you tried.

Carry some sort of notebook everywhere.
Immortalize the world around you in quick sketches
and half smeared pencil lines.