The deeper I go, the more I don’t know. Simon’s art and text are satisfying, but I race along in his blog post as if I were scanning some clickbait. No, it does not deserve that. So I translated his piece into cinema (text and music and voiceover in the second example). Much more true to his work and, thus, even more satisfying to me.
Here is a further translation with my voiceover.
Layers upon layers in the video (timing, music, text colors, pan/zoom, music timing) and layers of voice. I am not saying it’s all good stuff, but I am saying that the artistic decision making that has been made up and down the line from its inception with Simon to my further translation is playfilled and empowering. It also allows me to honor Simon’s work and push a few more folks to appreciate his genius. Keep on, Simon!
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Terry, I came home, after a long day.
Then this emerged from the néant.
The afternoon walk with my eldest son was steeped in emotion.
As we walked slowly along paths and off beaten tracks, we would pause.
My son, my guide, showed me places where he had spent time, where he would go swimming, gardens he loved.
I paused, I paused, making sure that that moment was imprinted in my body.
I am not blogging so often at the moment.
Words fail me.
That was a special day, I felt compelled to frame, to accompany the images with words.
Touches of light, preciously preserved.
The poem of driving your daughter to the airport, the image I sketched, the OOOH made with his/my lips 😮 is part of this artistic connection that is embodied in your extraordinarily caring translation of moments of light that may touch us all, if we stop…to be…alive, to walk to the beat of others.
What you have done is go way beyond the surface.
You have found the poetry, your poetry, our poetry.
The lines between past and present, youth and old age, life and death, are not so clearly separated.
However clumsy our efforts to make sense, there are those who know what it is to be touched by light, to breathe, to be with…, to treasure what is passing, what is precious.
Your sensitive reading not of the words but of the pauses, the inspiration and expiration of breath heightens the sense of what to many might be a jumble of words, punctuated by roughly sketched landscapes and an air of pretentiousness.
To walk with my son or with Cezanne or with you my friend is not to say that we measure up, it is to mark out our steps with attention and respect for others known and unknown who might say this is what it is to love, this is what it is to make meaning…this is what fellowship can create.
How can I say thank you?
You have given this day new breath.
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New day,
new genius,
new walk,
new sense.
That is all the thanks
we deserve,
all the thanks
we are going to get.
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A lot of what I observed here comes from reading and living the breathed words of poets for a long time. I think for me it’s pure Whitman to have summed up poetry like this: Observe. Sing. That is what I did for your text and art. I observed that it was of a single piece of cloth, art and text. And I sang it out in a different way. All aspects of creating and artistic decision continue to startle me.
I am reminded of that horrible colonizer of Kentucky, Daniel Boone. We can take one of his tools and use it less horribly. We can blaze trails. I think if more folks would take the time to wallow around in your post they might come up smelling more like a pig…and that is a good thing. I blaze, you blaze, we blaze, he/sheeeeyit blazes.
Thanks.
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Your reply reminds me of this:
https://youtu.be/fvdtfFqHTf4
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You both inspire me in the love you share with your poetry, videos, art and interactions.
I liked the second version more than the first. Thank you both.
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Mutual inspiration society? Happy to be a member. Daniel, you are president. Thanking you in advance for accepting the post.