“Inspiration” Stained Glass Art by kenne, of kenne
“It behooves any of us who would mediate on the subject of artistic inspiration to open the doors wide into the night
and welcome into the house the spirit of inhabitable awe.” — Edward Hirsch
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Francisco Goya, from The Disasters of War Series (First Edition of 1863) — National Galleries of Scotland
In 1994, Susan Sontag wrote in Transforming Vision — Writers On Art, edited by Edward Hirsch, on The Disasters of War by Francisco.
“The images are relentless, unforgiving. That is, they do not forgive us—who are merely being shown, but do not live in the house of pain.
The images tell us we have no right not to pay attention to pay attention to the crimes of this order which are taking place right now.
And the captions—mingling the voices of the murders, who think of themselves as warriors, and the lamenting artist-witness—mutter and wail.
The problem is despair. For it is not simple that this happened: Zaragoza, Chinchon, Madrid (1808-13). It is happening Vucovar,
Mostar, Srebrenica, Srebrenica, Stupni Do, Sarajevo (1991– ).” Note: The images and captions are meant to awaken, shock, rend. Yet the list of wars continues with Ukraine.
“Here in the words of some of the captions is what they show:
One cannot look at this.
This is bad.
This is how it happened.
This always happens .
There is not one to help them.
With or without reason.
He defends himself well.
He deserved it.
Bury them snd keep them quiet.
There was nothing to be done and he died.
What madness!
This is too much!
Why?
Nobody knows why.
Not in this case either.
This is worse.
Barbaria
This is the absolute worst!
It will be the same.
All this and more.
The same thing elsewhere.
Perhaps they are of another breed.
I see it.
And this too.
Truth has died.
This is the truth.”
Bee On Whitestem Blazingstar Wildflower (Mt. Lemmon) — Image by kenne
These first days of summer are like the pail
of blueberries that we poured out together
into the iron sink in the basement —
a brightness unleashed and spilling over
with tiny bell-shaped flowers, the windows
opened and the shrubs overwhelming the house
like the memory of a forgotten country, Nature,
with its wandering migrations and changing borders,
its thickets, woodlands, bee-humming meadows . . .
— from Summer Surprised Us by Edward Hirsch
October Colors on Mt. Lemmon — Photo-Artistry by kenne
Fall
— Edward Hirsch (from his 1986 book of poems, Wild Gratitude)
Another Beautiful Sunset — Image by kenne
— Edward Hirsch
Desert Chicory and Bees — Images by kenne
These first days of summer are like the pail
of blueberries that we poured out together
into the iron sink in the basement—
a brightness unleashed and spilling over
with tiny bell-shaped flowers, the windows
opened and the shrubs overwhelming the house
like the memory of a forgotten country, Nature,
with its wandering migrations and hanging borders,
its thickets, woodlands, bee-humming meadows . . .
— from “Summer Surprised Us” by Edward Hirsh
Welcome Home– Image by kenne
And as I turn home where
I know you are already awake,
Wandering slowly through the house
Searching for me, I can suddenly
Hear my own footsteps crunching
The simple astonishing news
That we are here,
Yes, we are still here.
— from “Dawn Walk” by Edward Hirsch
Blackett’s Ridge Trail Sunset — Photo-Artistry by kenne
It’s the way we move toward each other
at night, tired, giddy after a day together
or a day apart, flush with newborn plans
for a holiday from daily life, in reality.
We are festive and free-floating. We are
poured out like a bucket of wild berries.
— from “Summer Surprised Us” by Edward Hirsch
Mariposa Lilies (Santa Catalina Mountains) — Image by kenne
— Edward Hirsch
Rose Lake, Santa Catalina Mountains — Digital Art by kenne
— from At the Grave of Wallace Stevens by Edward Hirsch
“Live Covering Death” — Image by kenne
Now that I have more time to search for a source of inspiration larger than or outside of myself, I desire to generate creative expression my combining poetry and visual art. It is not always easy to tease out the imagination in words or a visual image, but when combined one may be able to create analogous worlds. Edward Hirsch, in Transforming Vision stated that this process is similar to what Robert Frost called “counter-love, original response.”
The Most of It
He thought he kept the universe alone;
For all the voice in answer he could wake
Was but the mocking echo of his own
From some tree–hidden cliff across the lake.
Some morning from the boulder–broken beach
He would cry out on life, that what it wants
Is not its own love back in copy speech,
But counter–love, original response.
And nothing ever came of what he cried
Unless it was the embodiment that crashed
In the cliff’s talus on the other side,
And then in the far distant water splashed,
But after a time allowed for it to swim,
Instead of proving human when it neared
And someone else additional to him,
As a great buck it powerfully appeared,
Pushing the crumpled water up ahead,
And landed pouring like a waterfall,
And stumbled through the rocks with horny tread,
And forced the underbrush—and that was all.
— Robert Frost
PS: I find inspiration in visual images, whether my own or that of others, from which I try to blend visual and verbal eloquence. One of the best examples of inspiration from visual art is Wallace Stevens “Man with the Blue Guitar” on Pablo Picasso’s “The Old Guitarist.”
“It’s A Beautiful Day” — Computer Painting by kenne
— Edward Hirsch
Windows And Doors — Grunge Art by kenne
(The Fortune-teller’s Words to the Poet)
The way downward is easy from Avernus.
Black Dis’s door stands open night and day.
But to retrace your steps to heaven’s air,
There is the trouble, there is the hard task.
And now he is wandering through a labyrinth
Of dead-end corridors and empty tunnels,
Broken mirrors and smudged signs pointing
Nowhere, voices echoing like footsteps
In the iron hallways. Listen to me:
If you want to become more than a shadow
Among shadows, you must carry back the memory
Of your father disintegrating in your arms,
You must bring words that will console others,
You must believe in stairs leading upward
To summer’s resplendent, celestial blues.”
— from the poem “Sortes Virgilianae” by Edward Hirsch
Sunset, 12/13/14 — Computer Painting by kenne
12/13/14 Sunset Images by kenne
— from “Poor Angels” by Edward Hirsch
Morning Passion — Images by kenne
— kenne
Becoming is Superior to Being 