one of my most, if not favorite poems. by julio noboa polanco. enjoy.

identity

let them be as flowers,
always watered, fed, guarded, admired,
but harnessed to a pot of dirt.

i¡¯d rather be a tall, ugly weed,
clinging on cliffs, like an eagle
wind-wavering above high, jagged rocks.

to have broken through the surface of stone,
to live, to feel exposed to the madness
of the vast, eternal sky.
to be swayed by the breezes of an ancient sea,
carrying my soul, my seed, beyond the mountains of time
or into the abyss of the bizarre.

i¡¯d rather be unseen, and if
then shunned by everone,
than to be a pleasant-smelling flower,
growing in clusters in the fertile valley,
where they¡¯re praised, handled and plucked
by greedy, human hands.

i¡¯d rather smell of musty, green stench
than of sweet, fragrant lilac.
if i could stand alone, strong and free,
i¡¯d rather be a tall, ugly weed.

remember

firefly flickering faint in the night
- following the strands of sand and sea
wafting in the lonely light
and shadow of
the tree that stands
guard over the souls of the watchful
dead -
candle burning
upon salt tide
amidst the rolling river
of solemn sight

and i remember

Painted Dreams

I wonder sometimes how much art reveals
about a person, whether it is a piece that
they have created or a something they like.
In the realm of painting, I like the pre-
Raphaelites, Gustav  Klimt and Modigliani.
Their images, regardless of minimalist or
graphic style, convey a lush sensuality and
richness of their life experiences. The content
isn't what matters, but the way it expressed,
as if they take a little of the magic in life and
transmute it in color and form that is tangible.
This is not to say that I don't like other sorts
of art - I ecstatically admire the genius of Dali,
Picasso, Hong Zhu An, Shi Dawei and the like,
but the works of the aforementioned artists 
resonate within me. I wonder what that says
about me.

     I believe art is comfort for the soul,
     whether you are the creator or the
     recipient. It has to convey beauty to
     someone, somewhere, whether that
     beauty appeals intellectually or
     physically.

not a poem, just streams of thoughts:

random thoughts and random moments

it is beautiful here suddenly,
the gray gloom of winter lifted
momentarily by the sun which basks
idly in the sky, turning the leaves
that lie scattered around into
translucent gems of red and gold
that flutter in the wind.
excepting the slight chill in the air,
it reminds me of a lazy midsummer's
eve, of days seemingly endless
in their beauty and existence.
even though there branches
lie bare outside my window,
there is a gothic charm to them:
they reach out, black silhouettes
that weave in fantastic silence, lace
to veil the sky. i wish i could capture
this moment of rapturous wonder,
but no medium can do it justice, even
these rough words that i lay to prose.
there can be nothing else besides
the ineffable, eternal presence of time and space
coming to bear upon this life of mine and i am glad not to have missed it.

i caught Monsters, Inc on the day it opened. it was pretty funny in many ways, BUT! they left out the scene i commented on in the blog below from the trailer!!!!! it wasn't even in the out-takes! ack. i will currently give them the benefit of the doubt that the scene didn't fit in, so they couldn't use it.

still, i feel cheated!!! the movie was overall good and definitely worth watching - the way they animate the movement of the fur on monsters is incredible! some - parts of the movie could have been better. somehow, i think disney had a hand in this. call me whatever you want, but i am anti-big corporation type deals that feel they have to whitewash everything in the name of political correctness anc commercial exploitation. i shall not spoil the movie by elaborating how they are exploiting it commercially, just that the one scene that dragged on is very evocative of disneyland. you can read more about the disney-pixar relationship here. the movies i liked were not products of the disney-pixar 50-50 partnership bent on making money money money! disney may be the happiest place on earth, but it is also the most plastic!

i much preferred the animation short that preceded the movie. it's another pixar piece titled, For the Birds. it is hilarious and wonderful for the amount it manages to pack into such a short space. the visual humor is expressed eloquently and succinctly! that is animation and creative genius at it's best - when it is not tied to the lumbering giant of corporate culture.