Arte, Arte!

"There are painters who transform the sun to a yellow spot, but there are others who, with the help of their art and their intelligence, transform a yellow spot into sun." 

— Pablo Picasso

KL to MNL, June 2010: Stolen Wings

Poetry. Painting. Photography.

Three of the things in literature that I love most. My dad used to kid me, “You are so fond of the things that apparently stops your world from turning. Rid it, or else you are not going to live long.” Maybe so.

An artful life ain’t easy. My masterpieces will always have to deal with the critics and the cynics. I get through it, but beat. Scarred, even. Yet, that does not stop me from doing the things that could extend time and could keep the moment forever. I always imagine my life on the brink and there is always a great way to spend it before falling into the abyss.

Yes, I spread myself too thin with my inclination to writing. Again, I risk being obscured. I might tear as I get past the curves but my life is not for others to question. They will, they can but I will never let them live it for me. I will not dwell in my mistakes for I can do better than I did - much better than they did. My mistakes, though they put me in the limelight of public scrutiny, will not make me less.

My world does not stop turning just because I wrote about it, translated it onto a blank canvass or clicked the shutter. It goes on as it must. The advantage is that I can relive the moment when times get rough. It will remind me that I made it through those days. A lifetime is too short to live just one day in a day. If I could live two days in one, why not?

When the time comes that my life is without me, it will still be full of me. The people I love can continue to read the poetry and prose that I have written – should they miss me. They will relive the moments with me. My children (children-in plural form; I intend to have more) will love to share with their friends photos from their childhood - that I have taken. And they, too, can believe that the life can be kept still.

Poetry. Painting. Photography.

Many times, I have stood on a line between giving up and seeing how much I could take. Then I realized, that with the amount of passion I have, the public and forever won’t be enough to test my limit.