A couple of poems and a diary entry

Lemon Twist

Ever seen a lemon
Twisted by one juicer?
Its flesh dissect then disintegrate.

Lap it up

The bitter life's-blood
That slides over your skin
Like Archimedes through your mind.

Lap it up
It stinks.


A Short Trip Up The Ganges With Graeme Greene

Your rose-hipped fella there
With wistful eye's and scruffy hair
Looks all fine, flippant and fair.

But he's a thin jonny two-bob,
A paddler true.
Doesn't stick his oars in right,
Doesn't look to you.

And when you look to him
Through his mane of sunship flip
As the needle-point stitched light
Turns to sulphurous green night,
And his leprous diamond trumpitt
Doesn't sound quite so bright.
When his hessian filled mouth
Fails to ignite...

...Would you look to your feet?
Observe a stench quite oblique?
That stirs a memory quite unique.
And see my snivelling, repugnant mass
Still resides there repleat.


On the subject of poems, have you read any T.S.Eliot, specifically his wasteland poems? I'm thinking in particular of A lovesong to Arthur J. Pruefrock. I may have got that wrong but its something similar. That poem was a revelation to me, its astonishing. I'll try to remember to bring it with me when i come down.

Diary entry 07/01/08
What type career artist do i want to be? I always have the most respect for an artist who seems ambivalent to current trends, an artist who bravely trudges his own path. I am thinking here of examples such as David Hockney and Auerbach. Their practices are poles apart, Auerbach has been stoically banging his head against the same wall for 40yrs or more, whilst Hockney, like a hummingbird has flitted from one area of concern to the next in a never ending search for... well... everything. However they both seem to transcend the earthly problem of style (style being associated with fashion here). This I can see as being a slightly naive statement, particularly with regard to their early careers, both were certainly aware of the artscene around them, however, they never seemed defined by it, yet, particularly with Hockney, the work has for the most part appeared current. I think this is the area that this entry has moved into now, how do you create art that matters (that has the appearence of being culturally relevant) whilst not falling into a dogmatic copy-cat of current styles? To remain true to yourself doesn't seem to quite cut it, what exactly is true to yourself? It doesn't exist because we are a product of our time and environment. So again it seems to be a balancing act, perhaps this is thereason why artists are naturally wary of power structures, governments and such, because it thus places us on the outside of something giving us just a bit of objective space in order to find our voice, a voice that whilst heavily influenced by society is not totally reliant upon society. That said, I'm stuck in my parents house in the fog of middle-class suburbia, i'm kinda failing miserably in my efforts to see anything.