Skip to main content

uncle grant

photo: doug smith


uncle grant -- can't can't chant

pay now pay - for what we say

uncle chuck - can't trust your luck

tell us true - what do you do?


what's the price? the thought is nice

lift the lid? that's what we did

sign right here - and here, and here

grant three wishes - charity cheer


freestyle lifestyle paid with tax

scoop the art until it cracks

uncle grant grant us one wish

serve it up nonprofit dish


we will write your favorite book

paint your piece a proper look

film the scene that lights you up

fill the ever empty cup


uncle grant let's find the spin

show us how to cash it in.



-- douglas brent smith


 

Comments

More...

Check Your Pockets for the Key

  Check Your Pockets for the Key - collage by douglas brent smith, 21 November 1988, paper, magazine pictures, glue.

Platform Flyer

 One of a series of mostly black and white mixed media/collage pieces with a photo-copy base.  Here's the poem that is on the facing page in the journal: we're not perfect but we are trying trying to get along to talk to touch to see each other's                           point of view we're not perfect but we have a history that is wrapped in strands of perfect moments                         perfect steps                                             perfect strings of perfect love. 23 April 1998 Platform Flyer - mixed media sketch by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress.

No Brain No Anxiety

  We didn't have a garage, our neighbors, the Amy's did. Reverend Amy and his family lived next door. That is me sitting on the Chevy, wearing a Davy Crocket hat. I was a big Davy Crocket fan and had the theme song on a yellow 45 rpm record, which of course I sang to vigorously. What's your earliest memory from childhood? No Brain No Anxiety -- collage by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress

Bad Presentation Habits

  People are distracted if you assemble an engine while you are making your presentation. Also, if you take photos of light posts and give them fancy names (like Howard Smith), or share tea with the ladies while the rest of the group stares in disbelief, feeling left out, feeling out of place. Is that the presentation that you intended? It wasn't easy to assemble a room filled with geniuses. Now what do you do? Bad Presentation Habits - collage by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress

Family Time

  "What kind of family is that?" "A family of crows perhaps. Or a family of artists in their own crow colony." "I do not think so." "Perhaps a family platform, off to a rocky start, dancing in the sun." "In the winter?" "And in the snow." "Oh." "How did family time go?" "Not so well." Family Time - sketch by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress

Terra Cotta

  Whatever floats your boat matters. Send yourself on a journey unique to your character, special for your strengths, resilient to your challenges.  My dad once made a canoe. He carved it out of a single piece of wood. He told me that it floated, the way a canoe should, but it leaned to one side. I never got in that canoe but I did see it. It's a gift to be able to make things out of wood, even if the first time you try it comes out a little wabi sabi. Terra Cotta - collage by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress

Kiss Me Goodnight

  Kiss Me Goodnight -- sketch by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress. This first version is a "cleaned-up" and censored scan. The original (but still censored) scan is below, with the notebook paper lines visible. Which one is better? I don't know.  I think maybe the original (still censored) scan. Let's just get bold enough and not censor it. I'd tabled a matching piece of paper in the upper right hand corner. Now, in the scan below, I have restored the sketch to its original form, including the bit of journal writing in the upper right hand corner. 

Amazed

  Even when we're lost there is a pattern, discoverable, discernible, mysterious. Are we being led thru that pattern, or are we creating that pattern? How can we know where we're supposed to go if we are supposed to go anywhere. Maybe it's all just happening and we are not responsible for twists, turns, and new lessons to learn. Amazed - mixed media collage by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998, from Journal #33, Life In Progress.

Truth and Honesty

Wrestle with this if you will. Honesty isn't always truthful, and truth isn't always honest -- combining the two is a delicate art seldom mastered. -- doug smith