Not Alone

Sole heir to a formibable existence
Do not falter from your conviction
By your colossal stance
They sought to tie you down
You strove to surpass the typical
Only to be ridiculed for your attempt.

When ugly mediocrity slights your vision
Know there is a place
Where seer's have wings
and soar without boundary.
Where thinker's are exalted
and thrive ever forward.

Remain on your course
Some are watching you with hope.
Few remain but are alive
And will always be.

Letter to Penelope : the psychology of reality

Dearest Penelope,

Had a really great conversation with a new friend today who I met at a cafe while going to read my paper. His name was Claus Jessup. I asked him how he knew of Ernst Fuchs since I saw he was carrying a book on his art with him while in line. Then I asked him if he had ever heard of Zdzislaw Beksinski thinking if he hadn't he might be interested considering the fantastical similarities, he said he had and then mentioned that he knew of a big retrospective of his work that was supposed to be opening up soon in the States. I told him I knew about it, I told him Sofia Lucia and myself were responsible for putting it together, that we'd been working toward it for the past six months or more. We ended up sitting down at a table together since there were other people in line and we were blockading cranky customers in apparent dire need of their caffeine crush. He is a photographer who does commisioned work for publications like National Geographic and Conde Nast, really cool fellow with stories to tell about his travels. Somehow we got on psychology and how it has replaced religion as the new spirituality. Except instead of it being a spirituality in the sense of faith it is more about turning the exterior diety into yourself and making yourself like God. Which is really what Jesus was saying all along but preachers don't preach that side of it since it leads to self-empowerment over mass control. The science of psychology is simply a modern attempt at bringing the message that the individual is the one who experience's God (that was another discussion, 'what God was?') back to the person. He proposed Sigmund Freud was the new Jesus where in Christian doctrine there is the father, son,and the holy spirit. Freud turned them into the id, ego, and superego. In Christianity one purifies their soul, to Freud it was the psyche. He made a pretty good case for it using relative terms. We talked for a couple hours until I had to leave to be at the library to examine and hopefully date some illuminated manuscripts before they were to be restored. I didn't leave without exchaning our contact information.

When the museum positioned me for this trip I knew that I would be all over the place getting the chance to see great variances of historical artifacts but actually being in the presence of some of these things which prior I had only seen in books and talked about with historians and curators has been quite the memorable treat. This is after all one of the reason's why I stepped into this offer of course. Rubin said he regrets not taking the position himself after being stuck back with maintenance and upkeep hassels at the museum. I told him he wouldn't have been given the job anyway, the head chair has her eyes on him and she doesn't want him leaving her access. He still acted like he had no notion of what I was talking about. As if he couldn't recall the Wine Tasting event last month where I pointed out how she not so subtly invited him over to her loft for a after party of two, missing the hint that he was going to be the only other person there. He mumble something and then started talking about how the Hopper etchings that were just installed are more mysterious than reality. I told him reality leaves a lot to the imagination.


All yours,
Odysseus

Brilliant convoy!
Radiant receptacle of innovation, motion, and progress
Shine!!
Surpass the masses that aim to dull you
grabbing at your heels from below.
Do not concern yourself with their mediocrity
Excel!
I will ward them off. Fly higher!
Do not look back.
See it in your grasp
Seize it!!

Letter to Penelope

Dearest Penelope,

Went walking around a lake tonight with a vanilla bean gelato, thought of you during every lick. Spent the day with Carmen and Nicholas who took me to an out of this universe cafe where they fed me a garlic mushroom gravy that melted my insides happy. Followed by a chocolate canoli some liquour that accompanied wonderfully. Nicholas told me he would be coming over to Arizona in February thru April for a site specific work he's been hired to do for Lorenzo and Cape. Something very Baroque he said, based on Eros. I told him to give us a ring for dinner one of those nights. He said after that asparagus alfredo you made for him last time he couldn't see not calling us at least once. I did get to stroll around early in the morning a bit after thanking Georges for all the catering he did for me. Looking back on it I could have been off a lot worse had he not been there. Who knows what the robber may have felt if it had only been me, plus he knew exactly where to take me, I'd have been bleeding all over the place probably about to pass out till I realized I needed care. But after a night with him my ears were ready for some silence. I was able to get some divinely lite photos of the architecture and people here that I can't wait to show you. I know how you like to see the lay of the land to places you haven't been before. One I'm particularly fond of that I'm thinking I want to frame is a candid shot of a middle aged woman sitting down in front of a water sculpture that looked liked it was spilling water over her head from a swans mouth and the morning light was coming through the sculpture in a ethereal ray that made it look like a divine halo surrounding her. Her head was uplifted a bit and she was gesturing to a little boy beside her. It's reminds me of that beautifully transcendent expression on the Ecstasy of St. Theresa, one of my favorite sculptures.

Before I met with Nicholas and Carmen I called the museum to see how things were going there, Sheila told me that they may want me to meet with Jacques Reneau about a interview for our upcoming Beksinski show. Since he's not a extremely well-known name they want to push some stuff about him to get potential interest flowing. Which means I'd be here a couple days more, hopefully I can work it out with Louis at Ste.Chapelle in refiguring our meeting. I can't imagine it being too big of a issue, not unless he booked us a time at The Blue Rose which he said he might do and which can be notoriously hard to get reservations for.

Love you my dear. This week has been saturated with such delicious delights that I want you to experience, and you will. Still I look forward to one thing more than any, holding your gorgeous body. Soon.


Yours,
Odysseus