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Showing posts from July, 2009

Seoul Writings II

1. Gyeongbok Palace 20/7/09 Six-Fold Screen of the Sun, Moon and Five Peaks. Eight-Fold Screen of Peonies and Rocks. Ten-Fold Screen of Shelves Full of Books. Faint sounds of Royal Court Music dispell past affairs of guilt & torment like visionary footsteps echoing in the cavernous hollow Palace building new consciousness of the old. 2. Seonyu Island 21/7/09 Frogs random croaking tickles the strolling couples amourous desires. Gentle waterfalls soothe the weight of time wrinkles on faces of three older woman friends. Men gamble & fish freely in the wind playing to catch treasures of leisure. We descend steps disappearing into the Han under the arced bridge sweeping all cares to the warm night sky on heavenly swings. 3. Seowon Temple in Maputo 22/7/09 Climb to the top not to look down or out over but look on the golden hand. Prayer gesture Imploring tomorrow for yesterday's gratitude. I saw the newsroom today. What a lucky man. 4. Odusan Unification Observatory 23/7/09 At th...

Seoul writings

1. Dangsan: Day One 12/7/09 the green & wood embrace & edge tongues of form reach for expectant joy 2. Dangsan: Skies open 13/7/09 Hard rain through night. Tiny districts folded within each other like streams pouring souls to the Han. 3. Mapo-gu, Sungsan-1-dong (Family visit) 14/7/09 Rabbit wanted to eat tiger. Brother tiger had been kind showing pictures of when they were babies. Instead rabbit climbed his mothers back & clung tightly most of the night. 4. Insa-dong (Inner district) 15/7/09 Shadow birds converge on blue pots as red women divulge secret worlds. The trickster monk cries "Come, come hold the paper." Sketches a show - we are all poor artists. 5. Insa-dong (Inner district) Part 2 16/7/09 Be free whisper all the quiet places of beauty. We are serious & socially responsible. We scream in tender silence our love for our community. We are the outliers. Share the dream. Outside people jostle for every inch in the heat. 6. North Korean Studies (Gyon...

Shadowy Line

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... the movement of an artist from the world of practice often comes with great mourning & even greater reflection ... Pina Baush preserved her dignity and spirit with considered if not miraculous attention ... others not so ... ... the present media frenzy surrounding MJ allowed me to reflect on an aged post : "it is impossible not to contemplate with a shudder the shadowy line between art, ecstasy and psychosis." . . . Cox in his “documentary” about the Russian born dancer Nijinsky The Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky is quoted: “Nijinsky was a beautiful spirit. He went mad because of his love of mankind. We live in a world that has gone crazy – it is no wonder that souls like Nijinsky go mad.” Words as if spoken towards any artist humbled by their own demons & excesses of a hungry sensibility, extreme traumatic periods & victim of time and place. ... further darker evidence: "Once we commit ourselves to a passion, noble or sordid, it is of no importance, ...