Splash

Really tasty poem I found by Charles Bukowski (an amazing poet.)

Original poem

splash

the illusion is that you are simply
reading this poem.
the reality is that this is
more than a
poem.
this is a beggar's knife.
this is a tulip.
this is a soldier marching
through Madrid.
this is you on your
death bed.
this is Li Po laughing
underground.
this is not a god-damned
poem.
this is a horse asleep.
a butterfly in
your brain.
this is the devil's
circus.
you are not reading this
on a page.
the page is reading
you.
feel it?
it's like a cobra. it's a hungry eagle circling the room.

this is not a poem. poems are dull,
they make you sleep.

these words force you
to a new
madness.

you have been blessed, you have been pushed into a
blinding area of
light.

the elephant dreams
with you
now.
the curve of space
bends and
laughs.

you can die now.
you can die now as
people were meant to
die:
great,
victorious,
hearing the music,
being the music,
roaring,
roaring,
roaring.

This I Believe...

A fun paper I did for one of my college courses recently. A meditation on the value of art to both societies and individuals.

This I Believe...
By Ben Bjostad

I freeze in a crowded room at the National Gallery of Art; my eyes lock on to a painting hanging on the wall, a shadow-drenched portrait of lonely souls wandering the desolate streets of the city that never sleeps. I see my reflection on the canvas, a half-century away. Bandwidth opens across the temporal separation and I know that Edward Hopper has felt what I feel. He has captured my inner core with paint years before I was born.

I skip class to finish a novel, lost in a crowd of people at a boarding school where it seems as if no one cares whether I live or die. There is no place where I belong. I am Holden Caulfield, and J.D. Salinger has told my story through a fictional creation.

I am walking across campus; my iPod feeds sound waves through my headphones, and electronic beats combine with the string section of a symphony orchestra to create a tapestry of emotion in my head. My fingers move to the beat; my soul plugs in to the band, Hybrid, through the electronic gadgetry that transmits it to me.

Art is the lens through which I can see myself for who I truly am. Art is the medium in which I discover myself. I connect to others through the creative artifacts that they leave behind, and my own art is meant to open my own soul to the world.

I seek to clarify and explore the recesses of myself through creative expression, to mine my soul for truths that I cannot find in any other way. I find those same truths in the art of others, in any form that it takes. Creative expression is a form of interpersonal bandwidth; it is a way to break down the walls between souls, across time and space. Those connections help me discover new ways of looking at myself and the world around me.

I believe that art is my most pure reason for living; it is the most enduring and meaningful remnant of a civilization. Art allows me to transcend myself. No one will care, years from now, about the cars that I’ve owned or the places that I have lived. No one will connect with me through my resume. Art is eternal truth. Creative expression is the universal language, the conduit in which my soul meets the world.

This is the greatest gift that art grants me. This is art’s undeniable value. Through the connections granted by artistic expression, I know that I am not alone. Through my own art, I reach out to others, and open up the bandwidth to communicate with no barriers. I leave my mark on the world in the hope that it strikes a chord in others, and others mark my own soul in return.

Storms Will Come

Storms Will Come
By Ben Bjostad

I offer to you my outstretched armored hand
and prepare to step into the broken glass.
Everything’s spinning now, rotating, building to
escape velocity.
I’m losing this, losing everything,
and as I picture you in a playground in Washington Park,
walking through a leaf-strewn woodland,
under bridges, over playgrounds, until our lips meet
I am struck dumb, wordless, without arrows
in my quiver, to combat the forces of entropy.

Nothing lasts forever. We build as best we can,
(the storms will come),
but if the levee will break, it will break. I’ve known,
always known, the levees were weak, the river’s rage
threatening outside our citadel walls;
Under siege, I cannot fill sandbags fast enough alone
to protect the causeway spanning the miles between us.
It is the distance that is such a killing thing;
the gust front is sweeping in and it’s a losing battle,
but this storm will break. Have faith in that.
The storms will always break.
Build well your levee walls; have faith in me,
and I will fight to keep the causeway clear.

The miles mean nothing so long as I have a purpose,
the sandbags light as feathers, the winds a dragon
that I might slay for you. All I need is hope.
All I need to know is that you’re waiting for me;
we built this bridge together, a span worth fighting for.
Someday the waves can take this bridge;
you’ll rest in my arms, the storm will pass, and our love
will stand firm against all the wind and rain can do.

The distance...

Hellogoodbye
All of your love
From the album 'Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs!

Check it out on Amazon here


Girl, you wanted
To shut it all off and make a run for the door

It's so hard
To make it
For every inch we get we need a mile more

But there is always so much distance can't but feel it somehow
But you have never ever felt it like you feel it right now
I'm closing off inside and I was only just starting
But you can't be close enough unless I'm feeling your heart beat

All of your love
Is all that I need
All of your love
Is all that I need

Girl
What are you doing now?
And are you going out?
Or has your life shut down?

Are you there?
This thing keeps cutting out
I feel like freaking out
But we keep reaching out

But there is always so much distance can't but feel it somehow
But you have never ever felt it like you feel it right now
I'm closing off inside and I was only just starting
But you can't be close enough unless I'm feeling your heart beat

All of your love
Is all that I need
All of your love
Is all that I need

Girl
It's hard enough
Just to move around, yeah
It's hard enough
Just to move around

I wanted you
Oh, I wanted you
Girl I wanted you to move
Oh, I wanted you
Girl I wanted you
Oh, I wanted you to move
Around
Around

All of your love
Is all that I need
All of your love
Is all that I need

I first heard this song on Saturday. It's kinda perfect for the way I feel right now.