A Series · 2023 to present
Time Travelers
Time Travelers is an ongoing series of paintings, mixed media, sculpture, and written works: a meditation on our brief time on earth, expressed through a dialogue between visual and written language.
At its heart is the conflict between fate and free will, compliance and resistance, authority and independence. The series considers aloneness both in solitude and within the crowd, and the choices we make when comfort, belonging, ambition, or fear ask us to betray our own moral center.
Moving through denial, complicity, commodification, struggle, and transfiguration, the works ask what remains of the self after compromise, what is lost when we sell pieces of ourselves to survive, and what may still be redeemed through refusal, memory, and transformation.
The Ark of In-Vulnerability
He never once considered
it could have failed him.
He knew the rules.
He knew how to break them safely.
He knew all the tricks.
He was born for this.
The thrill of winning.
He moved up and up
with each round of the game.
The ultimate master.
He was born for this.
There was no reason
to save the world, he thought.
His world was fine.
Focused on his growing pile of tokens,
he never considered
what would happen
after the final round.
The game was the escape.
Until the day.
And like a little boy,
he held onto his dog.
The only non player
he ever knew.
He held onto his dog
and cried.
it could have failed him.
He knew the rules.
He knew how to break them safely.
He knew all the tricks.
He was born for this.
The thrill of winning.
He moved up and up
with each round of the game.
The ultimate master.
He was born for this.
There was no reason
to save the world, he thought.
His world was fine.
Focused on his growing pile of tokens,
he never considered
what would happen
after the final round.
The game was the escape.
Until the day.
And like a little boy,
he held onto his dog.
The only non player
he ever knew.
He held onto his dog
and cried.
Hear Her Roar
Pain Threshold
Pain threshold rises with the moon
I laugh when you ask
If we can monetize my tears
It doesn't seem so outrageous anymore
We could sell them
Like strings of salty pearls
Or frame our sleepless nights
And hang them on the wailing wall
For sale to the highest bidder
We have so many mouths to feed
I laugh when you ask
If we can monetize my tears
It doesn't seem so outrageous anymore
We could sell them
Like strings of salty pearls
Or frame our sleepless nights
And hang them on the wailing wall
For sale to the highest bidder
We have so many mouths to feed
My Leaving
It's not true
It was never simple
My leaving
I left many times
I left many
But it was never simple
And each time a piece stayed behind
Million tiny pieces in a million places
They grew bigger with the passing time
One day I'll go back and find them all
I say
ONE DAY
It was never simple
My leaving
I left many times
I left many
But it was never simple
And each time a piece stayed behind
Million tiny pieces in a million places
They grew bigger with the passing time
One day I'll go back and find them all
I say
ONE DAY
The Hope Always Is
In my arms
Memories of Goodbyes
So many
So frail
Dreams of returning
Dreams of never leaving
Dreams that never leave
Stepping back into the river
Is never the same
THE HOPE ALWAYS IS
Memories of Goodbyes
So many
So frail
Dreams of returning
Dreams of never leaving
Dreams that never leave
Stepping back into the river
Is never the same
THE HOPE ALWAYS IS
Old Friend
In your voice
I hear all the disappointments
So many dreams
So many years
Time taught us many lessons
On which we keep silent
Discussing yesterday's weather instead
I hear all the disappointments
So many dreams
So many years
Time taught us many lessons
On which we keep silent
Discussing yesterday's weather instead
Takers
We made them thus
In our blindness
Mistaking beauty for goodness
Mistaking weakness for love
We fed the wolves of their hatred
Now it's too late
So we pretend not to hear the growls
As we get closer
And leave our offerings at the edge of their endurance
Just give them space
We say
Just give them what they need
If we do this the growling stops for a while
In our blindness
Mistaking beauty for goodness
Mistaking weakness for love
We fed the wolves of their hatred
Now it's too late
So we pretend not to hear the growls
As we get closer
And leave our offerings at the edge of their endurance
Just give them space
We say
Just give them what they need
If we do this the growling stops for a while
Maybe the Truth Never Existed
Each morning we tossed the coin
And then followed directions exactly
They changed every day
Kept us walking in circles
Descending the spiral staircase
As we followed the numbers
Can the Universe laugh
We asked
Gods laughed in response
We found that reassuring
So we calculated the odds
There was Low probability
There was No profitability
The Ark
Wasn't worth it
We decided
The night before the flood
And then followed directions exactly
They changed every day
Kept us walking in circles
Descending the spiral staircase
As we followed the numbers
Can the Universe laugh
We asked
Gods laughed in response
We found that reassuring
So we calculated the odds
There was Low probability
There was No profitability
The Ark
Wasn't worth it
We decided
The night before the flood
The World Never Ends
I was looking through the window of your soul
At all the dancing faeries you keep in there
I saw the rainbow rise from the rain of blood
Your dog and your cat stretched among the flowers you planted on my grave
Remember
The world never ends
It's always only the beginning
At all the dancing faeries you keep in there
I saw the rainbow rise from the rain of blood
Your dog and your cat stretched among the flowers you planted on my grave
Remember
The world never ends
It's always only the beginning
Picnic on the Vesuvius
We will not be like them
We are rational people
There's no need for trembling hands
Or broken hearts
We are better than that
We won't cry the tears of longing
We won't scream in pain
We won't bleed from our mortal wounds
We've evolved so we can just walk away
When that time comes
We're pretty sure it hasn't come yet
Has it?
We are rational people
There's no need for trembling hands
Or broken hearts
We are better than that
We won't cry the tears of longing
We won't scream in pain
We won't bleed from our mortal wounds
We've evolved so we can just walk away
When that time comes
We're pretty sure it hasn't come yet
Has it?
What a Child Saw
You will monetize your soul
And call it virtue
You will glorify your Hatred of One
And call it Love of All
You can't turn back
You're part of The Circle
And call it virtue
You will glorify your Hatred of One
And call it Love of All
You can't turn back
You're part of The Circle
Tea for Oneness
The laughing Buddha sits at the top
of the pyramidal scheme
The Eye sees it all
but who cares
it has no mouth to speak
And really
what is there to say
Unspoken speaks louder than words.
of the pyramidal scheme
The Eye sees it all
but who cares
it has no mouth to speak
And really
what is there to say
Unspoken speaks louder than words.
Tickets
We bought our tickets
For a train to Nowhere
It's scheduled to depart Never
So we're waiting at Forever station
Maybe the bus will come
You say and I nod
But we both know
Only the hitchhikers
Get out
For a train to Nowhere
It's scheduled to depart Never
So we're waiting at Forever station
Maybe the bus will come
You say and I nod
But we both know
Only the hitchhikers
Get out
The Masquerade
The first time I looked into your eyes
I knew I would always protect you
The first time you pushed me away
Gods laughed with delight
Primordial dance of love and pain
Forever feeding their greedy justice
Their delight was in watching us
Lost souls sparring into oblivion
I knew I would always protect you
The first time you pushed me away
Gods laughed with delight
Primordial dance of love and pain
Forever feeding their greedy justice
Their delight was in watching us
Lost souls sparring into oblivion
Apple Tree
Garden paths
Lead to many secrets
My roots grow deep
Into the bones
Of those who came before you
I watched you dig for their buried treasure
I watched you kill for a hope of life
You left with nothing
Never to find out
How close you were
To The Promised Seed
Lead to many secrets
My roots grow deep
Into the bones
Of those who came before you
I watched you dig for their buried treasure
I watched you kill for a hope of life
You left with nothing
Never to find out
How close you were
To The Promised Seed
Dedication
Blood flows like water under the bridge
No thicker than the sludge of memories
Flooding my heart
With visions of
Betrayal
There is no turning back
From Finality
There is no turning away from Truth
Of you
Of me
Of them
The choice to close this door
Opened the worlds
The time to cross is Now
No thicker than the sludge of memories
Flooding my heart
With visions of
Betrayal
There is no turning back
From Finality
There is no turning away from Truth
Of you
Of me
Of them
The choice to close this door
Opened the worlds
The time to cross is Now
Hands On Deck
THEY called us boat people.
As we drifted through the ocean of blood. God nodded and
SAID use your tears to wash away this pain
But what of sins? What of sins? We cried. He laughed.
MY mercy is by appointment only.
Ask the wind to dance with fire. It will consume your
LIFE and your ashes will no longer remember.
What you want to forget
IS but a blink of an eye.
A moment that never existed.
IN a hurricane of infinity
All will drown, so pray to
MY silence.
Then He said : Let your
HANDS reach for the sky!
As we drifted through the ocean of blood. God nodded and
SAID use your tears to wash away this pain
But what of sins? What of sins? We cried. He laughed.
MY mercy is by appointment only.
Ask the wind to dance with fire. It will consume your
LIFE and your ashes will no longer remember.
What you want to forget
IS but a blink of an eye.
A moment that never existed.
IN a hurricane of infinity
All will drown, so pray to
MY silence.
Then He said : Let your
HANDS reach for the sky!