Tag: Visual Arts

Write Something Terrible and Feel Great!

Let the poem write itself

Let the words flow through your pen

Open your mind

Let your thoughts come out to play

 

Let the story write itself

The plot is there

The characters already live

Just pluck them from thin air

 

Let the wound heal itself

Give it attention

Give it great care

Let it breathe in fresh air

 

Let the puzzle sort itself

Don’t pick up the pieces

You’ll just make a mess

Don’t worry, time sorts out all puzzles

 

Let the song compose itself

Words have wings

Marry your words to the harmony

Words don’t always need music to sing

 

Be a canvas to the whole world

Let children fill in the emptiness with their vivid imaginations

Let amateur painters blot out the darkest corners with their unlearned brush strokes

Let seasoned artists mold,shape, create

Something from nothing

Definition out of thin air

 

Write something terrible and feel great about it

The best art

Comes from many attempts

So at first when you grab the pen, the paper

The paint brush, the canvas

Don’t worry if you’re gonna fuck up

Truth is, you will

But don’t let that keep you

 

How did we learn to walk?

By first falling flat on our faces

Well, go on then!

Write something terrible and feel great!

Sing and hit the wrong note

And don’t yourself hate

Paint,paint,paint

The canvas doesn’t ever worry

Whether you’ll make a mistake

The stage doesn’t care that you tapped out the wrong beat

Or that once, you had two left feet

The blank pages in the book don’t care about grammatical errors

They trust the writer knows what to delete

So, what are you waiting for?!

Eva Santiago copyright 2013

 

write1

 

 

write2

 

 

 

write3

 

 

write4

 

BLACK & WHITE and then There’s the Grey

Once in your life or maybe more, things happen and you wonder what the hell was that. He made you smile just like you made him. Does it have to be complicated? And why aren’t things more simple? Why are we over thinking and over stressing and just why not go with the flow. Ahhhhhh, because your traditions condemn you and they yell at you in your head, telling you that you shan’t, you shan’t you SHAN’T! So, stop “shoulding”  on yourself already! Life is too short and really, you only get one time here so make it the best possible ride.

When we were younger some of us were taught that life only consists of black and white. Now that you’ve lived some life and experienced up and downs you see that there is a lot  more grey to life than they ever let on. Funny, in the Bible the 10 Commandments are the only “black and white” of life. Do this and this will happen. Don’t do this and this won’t happen. That’s it, end of story, simple as that. Read that ancient book and you will see that God is a good God and that He wants us to enjoy our lives.

My mama told me the other day , “ Let your hair down and have a good time because you’ll have a lot of time later on to think of heaven.” That’s advise that comes from a woman I love, admire and respect and she is close to 70 years old. So I shall take that and run with it because I figured she ought to know since she’s lived close to 30 years more than me.

Go on, take a chance on life, after all, what have you to lose? Try something new you never did before. If you don’t like it, move on. Live your life as a series of adventures awaiting your discovery and not a series of events you have to endure.

-Eva Santiago copyright 2012

365 Snap Shots of Life: Day 202

It’s horribly tragic what just transpired in Aurora Colorado. The selfish, thoughtles and careless act of one person, unleashed loss in families, a community and our nation. Today I will post another one of my poems that didn’t make it into my book, Salsa! The Taste of Life, due out  soon. I want to honor the families that were directly touched by this sudden tragedy…R.I.P.

God‘s Workmanship

 

The Master is forever working, creating, perfecting.

His subject? A living canvas.

He chooses and mixes the various mediums.

What starts out seemingly chaotic, is being made perfect

through His loving touch.

 

 

His discriminating eye is constantly scrutinizing…

the past, He obscures in shades of gray,

lest you forget from where you came.

Accentuating in dazzling hues those things about you,

that deeply touch and delight Him.

 

 

On those days you are feeling frustrated and forgotten:

Do Not Fear! The Master is lovingly letting the canvas rest.

For there are wet layers of paint that must dry:

Deep-seated issues that can’t be worked out overnight.

Tomorrow, He’ll continue where He left off.

 

 

Then there are days of non-stop work.

The canvas cries out, “I’m tired! I have had enough!”

The Master lovingly ignores the pleas,

for He alone knows when to cease.

 

 

At times when your fears seem insurmountable,

and failure is your constant companion.

Rest assured His plan is bigger than the canvas:

He will work it ALL out!

 

 

Those things that hurt,

the wounding you have suffered,

He mixes His tears with dark shades of crimson…

…to remind you He’s been there with you, holding you

as you were shamed and mistreated.

 

Alas, The Master stands back,

the living canvas is nearing completion…NOT!

For this is the work of a lifetime.

May the fullness of the essence of God,

forever wash on your living canvas!

 

 

You Are His work of art on Display!

-Eva Santiago Copyright 2012