Exchange of Values

Exchange of Values
acrylic on board 48'X96'

"Structure of Color Perception"

"Structure of Color Perception"
48'X96' acrylic on board

Tuesday, March 1, 2016



Partheno-Genesis/Daniel-Imburgia

I watched a baby
Rocking on African hips
Absorbing the cadence of life
And wondered
If we all had mothers
Who pounded cassava root
And danced with us on their hips
Maybe we could have survived

The Orchid-Mantis is the brightest
Predator in the rain forest
Wielding its brilliance to attract victims
It hunts for promiscuous bees
Among pure white blossoms the
Flowers evolving into silent accomplices
To this erotic butchery even though
Cutting their own throats

The ancient Greeks wrote:
Our bodies return to Earth
Our blood returns to sea-water
Our soul returns to fire
Our breath returns to air
This seems so obvious
Who would take time to
Write it down?

Tsupuuu is the Quechua word
For the sound that a wounded pig makes
When it tumbles into fast-running water
There is no equivalent word in english
If he ever saw a wounded pig fall into a river
Wittgenstein wisely kept silent about it

The Talmud teaches that four men entered the Garden
Ben Azzai, Ben Zoma, Ben Acher, and Ben Akiba
Ben Azzai beheld the garden and perished;
Ben Zoma walked in the garden and went mad;
Ben Acher became enraged and destroyed the garden;
Ben Akiba entered the Garden in peace and left in peace

My newest gadget has
Ten thousand bird songs
Mating calls, pictures, stats, even
Sounds of many birds already extinct
Sometimes when deep in the forest
I play out-loud their forgotten songs and
Even the Ravens fall silent
For my weeping

The anchorite is mostly blind and rarely speaks
Sometimes trekking virtual pathways
The old one traces the keening of
Desolate machinery seeking help-meets and
Mourning the triumph of binary intercourse
It was the evening of the eight day
And one of their last creations had
Already gone missing


Video is from the documentary film, "Ghost Bird."  Much obliged.