ARTIST’S PAEAN
#poem #art #artist #society

My part of the social contract,
my cultural role
is to dig deep into my subjective soul,
which connects to
the collective whole.
To fully merge with that landscape
become every bit of soil, every seed;
excavate the before, becoming,
bereavement; paint color,
texture, tone, in language
that is mine alone,
grown from and refeeding
meta-human tongue.
Expansive value we perceive,
pour into communal budget
to receive:
art frames beauty, entertainment, pleasure,
elevation of mundane pain, secular
communication, political endeavor;
provokes to sustain intimacy, explain
personal perplexities, move beyond
boundaries, feel more profoundly, embrace
a common destiny, absorb accumulated
wisdom, to believe in more than
— on and on into mystery, history, possibility,
fantasy and wonder.
All this the artist explores, exchanges for the
sustenance of inspiration,
to refuel, empower
to give ever more.