Fun With The Boys - collage by douglas brent smith, 28 December 1987
How to Test Drive a Pickle
How to Test Drive a Pickle -- collage by douglas brent smith, 25 December 1987
Bill Said Yes
Bill Said Yes - collage by douglas brent smith, 3 January 1987
Notes:
Originally titles "George Said Yes" but clearly that is Bill (I think it might be the actor Bill Irwin) and Bill is being asked a question, to which he enthusiastically answers "Yes!"
one night on the beach
i said to you
our shoes in the sand
your hand in my hand
in a trance of truth
i said to you
my best inner secrets
as the sun set
and a light breeze
caught your brown hair
remarkable
i said to you
touching your cheek with care
like a leaf
whispering what
i should have said
years ago
there is love that
may be delayed
but not denied
true then, true on that beach.
true still.
-- douglas brent smith
Chaos In The Middle
Chaos In The Middle - sketch by douglas brent smith (with help from Christopher Morgan Cizewski Smith.
notes from an out of tune piano
the left hand starts
a bass line avoiding
familiar notes, for accidentals
the right hand takes a ride
let me sing of your changes (andante)
swell...swell...who can tell?
let me glissando your joys (forte!)
and then mid-transposition
the two of us harmonize
and bring all the mystery
down to size,
-- douglas brent smith
.jpeg "A Cast of Thousands (partial close-up)")
poison water
white cloud blue sky sudden darkness
odor from a distant unknown source
bitter tasting, no permission
chemicals drifted in a virgin course
like a losing hand played to a devil's trick
for no reason half the town is sick
a stranger talking in a legal voice
bottled water is the only choice
dark days dry from a ruined well
twenty square miles of obnoxious smell
poison water makes a person think
tainted life line not a drop to drink.
-- douglas brent smith
hey you
i found you before
life left any dents before
the form found flaws and
with open wonderment alive and
ready for more
you found me ready
for new forms fresh foundation
sparks! light! early morning smiles
receiving all the giving and living
ready for more
every past piece of effort faded
as we created this new kind of kiss
tighter and sweeter and slightly awkward
youthfully extending our freely found
arms around gladness hey you hey you
we found each other ready
for each other
and did not let go.
-- douglas brent smith
Creativity is almost ready...
The less creative you feel, the closer you are to feeling creative again.
-- douglas brent smith
Moment of Light, Moment of Joy
Celebrate the joy within what is, and then what's missing will appear. The picture is already complete.
-- douglas brent smith
bizarre ensemble duo
bizarre ensemble duo -- sketch by douglas brent smith, from "the bizarre chronicles, volume one" 1984
anonymous, take a number
i am not anonymous
i am not a number you can push around
so get off my back!
do not pigeon-hole me or
patronize me or
i'll come unglued
not the common man
i get uncommon as often as i can
so stop measuring me
reassuringly
i am not anonymous
i am not a number you can push around
so get off my back!
-- douglas brent smith
well?
he was cute and
younger than me but
not illegally younger
and wearing a tight
orange and purple
shirt that had written
across the chest
"are you gay?" and
he smiled and i thought
"isn't everyone?"
-- douglas brent smith
Unlimited Strength
Strength is not a zero-sum game. Your strength does not subtract strength from anyone else (or shouldn't). Someone else's strength does not subtract from yours. Sometimes we act like it does, but it need not be that way. As high performance leaders our job is to help others to develop their strength. In the process, we develop our own.
Our strength does not depend on anyone's weakness. We never need for anyone else to ever be less in order for us to be more. We can all grow. We can all improve. We can, and should, all develop our leadership strength.
-- doug smith
the night after
i saw it coming and started running
but it never seemed to stop
it flashed like a light in the middle of the night
and exploded with a loud piercing pop
the morning hit me and my shirt didn't fit me
and beer cans were bent at my feet
i walked to the kitchen someone started bitchin'
and led me back to the street
cars were passing and hustlers were hassling
every new face that strolled by
i jumped to the street dodging the heat
while my feet did their best to fly
like a circus clown in a strange dark town
i reached for your number and phoned
come save me from this with a smile and a kiss
it's too much to face all alone
you balked and you stalled and said why did you call?
you need to find someplace to stay
the high that sustained us was destined to fall
and the feelings have all flown away.
-- douglas brent smith
grand canyon
she shared some details
of the road trip with
the teen in a van
not too many intense
infraction type details
it was fill in the blanks
with too much thinking
heart wrenching imagination
like why would two people
in a van driving together
sharing inside secrets and
cheap road food not be
more than she said
playing a players game
of silence and selective
facts believable whether deceivable
or not who could know
she met a native american guide
entering the great grand canyon
already ahead of her hiking
below the entertainer chevy chase
working up his best sweat
"losing weight for a part," he told her
he seemed nice she told me
she, so sun tanned
deeply in pain
followed the guide's instructions
scaling the canyon, seeking and
finding her peace on her own
in shorts and a shirt
a weight loss plan of her own
for that burn in her heart
immune from her lotions
medicines and potions
yet falling away as she scaled
deeper to release the one-hundred-and-ninety
pounds of disappointment
the guide set her free
with a nod for the tip
and when she returned
freedom felt better than the pain
sending her away again
without the boy
without me
free.
we share this
when the motion
slips into another space
explanations defy attempts to reconcile
part of the magic lives in everything
that's ever been
and ever is
like a wave
all of our days are part of something
more complex than we can see
so the part of you in me
and me in you goes on
some of the energy conserved in all
that's ever drawn
from breath lives on
-- douglas brent smith
Friendly Advice
Friendly Advice -- collage by douglas brent smith, 14 November 1983, from the journal "Theme and Variation"
Back Cover, Theme and Variation
Back Cover, Theme and Variation -- collage by douglas brent smith, 1983
NOTES:
Not so much a collage as a collection of images that builds up as I'm writing a journal, this one from 1983 - 1984. Based on the pictures on the wall, the picture at the bottom of Dorinda and me playing together is from Bridgeton, NJ -- no doubt Dad & Edna's house on Jay Avenue. We look happy.
The woman on the slide of course is Nena and she looks happy, too. These were perhaps dramatic but oh so happy times.
where?
movements
from a stranger
blackouts
from the center of the soul
childlike prods
to an undiscovered corner
tripping, tipping
into a hole
movements
as the stranger
blackouts
from the cage of ourselves
liberating touches
on the edge of frenzy
seizing, freezing
short of the goal
where is the cutting edge?
one of us is bleeding.
-- douglas brent smith
The Motion Age Beatnik
The Motion Age Beatnik -- collage by douglas brent smith, 21 March 1984
Notes:
I met the three people who are featured in the lower right corner of this collage. It was during a festival that I was involved with in Child's Play Touring Theatre. I do not remember the name of the mime trio. I think they were from France. They were fun, they were fabulous, we all got along famously. Never to meet again, but for a day or two we were all fast friends. I didn't speak any French, so our interactions were mostly non-verbal, but they were a mime troupe after all, so no problem at all.
Old Advice
Old advice could still be good -- if it ever was good.
Some old advice does not age well and so we throw it out. Stock market tips from 1980 won't do you much good today. Fashion statements from 1990 probably won't serve you well now.
But some old advice holds up well. Take care of others. Tell the truth. Always do your best. Lots of old advice is still great advice.
What's your best advice?
-- doug smith
stranger
something's unclear
and i fear it's true
who live here?
is it me or you?
-- douglas brent smith
from "One of One: 143 Poems"
From the Private Collection of Marvin Tudas
From the Private Collection of Marvin Tudas -- collage by douglas brent smith, 4 December 1983
Study for Painting
Study for painting -- drawing by douglas brent smith
Notes:
I did actually paint this study, although it has been lost to the ages somehow, maybe in the fire in Louisville, maybe in one of my many moves. Too bad, it came out much better than this sketch. The window scene was different, featuring a VW beetle. The floor was black and yellow. It's an acquired taste but I really liked it. It was fairly large compared to my usual works, too -- probably 36 x 48 inches.
Communication in the Motion Age
Communication in the Motion Age -- collage by douglas brent smith, 22 March 1984
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