douglas brent smith

 Ground Bound Promise, sketch by douglas brent smith, 1978

a dramatist's conflict pivots in place when peace is achieved and there is no drama it is conflict to the form but! is this true? or only ego driven desire for more attention brought by the tension that drama brings with the world unresting drama keeps testing. -- douglas brent smith  

 Variations on the Energy Theory, Sketch by douglas brent smith

  the universal circle o ends where it begins o bends not breaking defined by the space inside equal in pressure and flow o to the space outside o laughing Buddha did know o sweet Jesus did know o nameless eternity do you know peace lives here o when you know. -- douglas brent smith

 The Cubist Kong - sketch by douglas brent smith, 1977

when i learn to leave judgment and criticism instead enjoying others and their differences delights when i learn to accept this place on earth assured as a happy one with a peaceful soul. -- douglas brent smith  

  Sketch: Mustard Seed Truck, douglas brent smith, 1978 Notes: Peter bought a used mail truck which had the steering apparatus on the right side instead of the traditional left side on American vehicles so that the drive could place mail into resident's mail boxes without getting out of the truck. Because of that oddity, Peter said that his truck had a sex change -- it used to be a female truck but was turned into a MAIL truck -- and now was stuck as a male. Those trucks are surprising small inside and of course, only have one seat. Nena and I sat in the back on boxes or folding chairs -- no seatbelts --  on route to our Mustard Seed Theatre gigs. I think that Bob and Harry travelled separately, probably in Harry's car. We didn't get nearly as many gigs as we'd hoped for (after all, we'd hoped to make it our career) but it was fun while it lasted.  dbs

a conflict-free person does not destroy knowing she will always rather remain whole knowing she offers a pathway to peace -- douglas brent smith

 Sketch by douglas brent smith

deep in the night all the joy here beside you feeling our spirits rise and converge deep in the night with the dance of holding folding our arms and our hearts as one deep in the night our darkness behind us the new secrets find us full and alive deep in the night as i turn to kiss you your eyes shine those signs of friendship and love. -- douglas brent smith  

  Sketch: "Concentration on Detail" by doug smith, 1978

always at the right moment you know a smile, a touch, a spontaneous poem and all the lights now happy midnight bright joys come soaring from you to me as we fly wing on wing with our promise of love our tender desire our strength of growing now and until all the candles  flicker out i will hold this flame with you. -- douglas brent smith  

Notes: Peter, Harry, and I started a little touring theatre company we called the Mustard Seed Theatre Company. We had very limited success for an all too brief amount of time. I later revived the name at churches in Chicago, and I'm sure that any search would uncover other theatre companies bearing that name, but we loved it while we proudly wore it on our t-shirts.  These sketches are modest attempts at logos. circa 1977-1978

 flame fast upon the styro foam underbelly of the rapidly freezing uncooperative ozone      (don't let it rain daddy) the initial waves hurt only a few misguided wild winking creatures grazing mesmerized by the new sun by the endless summer by the quick     (what about the cat daddy?) some say the continents shifted tectonic shifts wrecking slumber impact by the billions or so psychogestalt screams of urgently weeping innocents     (how much water do we have daddy?) the parthenon stood the eiffel blinked hancock shuddered general motors flinched but all carefully in place unharmed unscarred     (daddy what's wrong?) noah gasped christ wept and music cloned recklessly moaned recognizable melodies endgame moved into place bartered out castled and kinged winged flashing vacancy vacancy...vacancy...     (oh daddy it hurts) mimes muttered clowns frowned the  whole broken circus city state tumbled down cavernous cravings mist hot twisted vacancy sensate symbiotic ruptures seven drago

 What Is Real? sketch by douglas brent smith, (1977) Notes: Cece and I used to play a word game we called "What Is Real?" The idea was that we were all living in a movie, or simulation, or game, and only some of us and some things are real. It seemed a bit advanced for 1977 but I was reading a lot of science fiction at the time and Cece has always had a very open, very curious, very creative mind. It was fun. We'd also draw pictures, sometimes using a surrealist technique known as "exquisite corpse" where you each draw half of the picture, without seeing what the other person has drawn. The paper is folded in half with a couple of lines visible on both halves to show you where to connect the pictures. It was also fun. These sketches are just doodles from one of my journals.