This is an older piece I made at a time of great sorrow and pain. It is made with a combination of paint and pastel. It seemed to me at the time that the world as I knew it had been irreparably changed, torn asunder, blown to smithereens. Since the war in Ukraine and the Middle East, I have had a similar feeling. Nothing feels safe or known. It is a time of great upheaval, aggression, shame and grief.
Distraught
Overwhelmed
Shattered
Tinderbox
State of the world
Distraught
Where is the world
we erroneously
thought we knew
That had a rhythm
A rhyme that made sense
The timbre of a song
That could be sung together
Instead of a black hole
of past/present traumas
Creating new schisms
Overwhelmed by a world
Where cruelty
Sexual subjugation
Wielded as weapons
Whole generations
Innocent children
Other humans
Slaughtered
For an absurd idea of Justice
Retribution
Shattered
That those who light the fire
Claim to be victims
And victims retaliate
In a thirty to one ratio
Where dictators, tyrants
And terrorists
Take Children, adults hostage
Bombing civilians and infrastructure
Leaving life-long trauma in its wake
I want to live
I want others to live
Where all people of one race or religion
Are not painted
Drab broad brush strokes
Of sameness
Bias and mediocrity
As if there is no myriad of varieties
Colors, beliefs, principles
Tinderbox
State of the World
Exploding
Imploding
Chaotic
Destructive
Frightening
Isolating
Will we survive?
