Category Archives: …and other stuff

miscellaneous postings by Lawrence R. Spencer

...and other stuff, ART, FREE ADVICE, LIVES, MOVING PICTURES, POETIC NONSENSE, SOUNDS, UNIVERSES

MICHAEL PARKES GALLERY SHOW

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I consider Michael Parkes to be the greatest living American artist.  I have the privilege of attending his annual exhibition at the Borsini-Burr Gallery near Half-Moon Bay, CA this coming week-end!  Michaels’ 69th birthday will be celebrated as part of this show.  You can learn more about the fantastic art of Michael Parkes on his official website  http://www.theworldofmichaelparkes.com/cm/Home.html

Here is a short video of a similar show Michael presented at this gallery in 2012.  Enjoy.

...and other stuff, 1001 THINGS TO DO WHILE YOU'RE DEAD, ART, FREE ADVICE, LIVES, MOVING PICTURES, POETIC NONSENSE, READING MATTER, UNIVERSES

I’M 18 IN MY MIND

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I live in a “55 and older community” of homeowners.  There are about 11,000 people living in this upper-middle class American “retirement resort”.  The average age of the residents is about 72 years old.  When I attend events and activities here I often think to myself, “Gosh, there sure a lot of old people here!”  Then, I go home and look in the mirror…..  It is then that I discover that I am one of the “old people”.

However, because I AM old, and because I am surrounded by other “old people”, I realize that “old people” do not think of themselves as “old”.  In our minds, we see ourselves in our mind at a time when our bodies were physically fit, sexually attractive and productive!  Nevertheless, even though I am only “18 years old in my mind”, the mirror reminds me that my body is more than 70 year old, and counting…..

These are the moments when I must remind myself that I am NOT the body I inhabit at this moment in the Eternal Now.  I know — deep inside myself — have lived a thousand, thousand lives in bodies uncountable, on planets in galaxies unspeakable.  When I remember “Who” I REALLY Am, the “man in the mirror” doesn’t seem quite as “real” as the people who live all around me seem to think.  I know that I am an Immortal Spiritual Being. If your body is still young, sexually attractive and physically fit, you may want to start remembering that you are NOT the body.  When your body gets “old” it will help you to remember that you are immortal, and eternally “18 in my mind”.

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...and other stuff, ART, BULLSHIT, FREE ADVICE, LIVES, POETIC NONSENSE, READING MATTER, UNIVERSES

ALONE AND BORED: SATURDAY NIGHT MUSING

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It’s not easy to say what I really think about Life in this Universe.  It’s complicated.  It’s a Love / Hate relationship. The random, unpredictable drama of it is entertaining, amusing and terrifying.  I love the sensual scenery on Earth and the impassioned sensations of sex.  I hate pain, lies, stupidity and injustice.  The wonder and mystery of an endlessly starry night is a facade of pretended majesty.  The sounds of soft, subtle jazz are sublime.  A trusted companion is comforting.  Ice cream is irresistible.  The blissful buzz of booze is bemusing. I am enamored with the innocent insouciance of animals.  Life Forms are reflections of The Divine Essence of Life.

Yet, I detest greed and the callous brutality of possessions.  I would love to love this universe.  But, it’s not my universe.  It’s not the universe I would create if I could create my own. It is full of recycled pain and dying and death. Agony, mystery and ignorance are everywhere. There are no real angels or faeries here. No honor. No Integrity. No Justice. No Mercy. No Poetic Magic. This universe in impassive and intolerant of nonsensically nonsequitur nonsense.

This universe is frozen, dark, impartial vacuum dotted with incandescent infernos of light-emitting balls of eternally burning gases!  Sprinkled, intermittently, throughout are gaseous clouds of radioactive poison and icy balls of rock.  It swirls and grows relentlessly in an eternally timeless now of revolving, random rotation. It is not me. It is not mine. I can’t own it and I don’t want it.  Yet, I can’t leave it behind!  (as far as I know, I’m stuck here….)

Does it have a purpose and destiny?  Does it know that I exist?  Does it care?

No. It does not.

I am a Nothingness of Thought.  I’m not from here. I didn’t begin anywhere. I am not a Thing. I Am Endlessly Emitting Emotions, Ideas, Compassion and Creative Notions.

I am Universes Apart from this universe.  Universes apart.

In My Own Universe I Am what I dream: Sensual, Dramatic, Comic.  I AM.  Motionless.  Curious. Playful. Joyful. Pleased with my Own Existence.  I Create. I Change. I Destroy, or not, at My Whim. I Am My Universe in My Universe.  You’re welcome to share it with me, as long as you Admire My Creations.  I’d like to Admire Yours too.  More than anything, I don’t like being Alone and Bored.

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— Lawrence R. Spencer. Saturday Night Musing. November 2012.

...and other stuff, ART, LIVES, PICTURE POEMS, POETIC NONSENSE, READING MATTER, UNIVERSES

SMILING FACE HAIKU

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smiling face haiku

A Haiku (in the English language) is a short poem which uses imagistic language to convey the essence of an experience of nature or the season intuitively linked to the human condition. It is a development of the Japanese haiku poetic form in the English language.  Some of the more common practices in English include:  use of three lines of up to 17 syllables;  most commonly, 5, 7, 5.  Haiku uses an economy of words to paint a multi-tiered painting, without “telling all”.