Wednesday 16 May 2012

Of Masks and New Beginnings - Features - 16-05-2012

I am going to take you onto a journey today and I think most of you will find it familiar ground. We start of all innocent and true to ourselves but due to one thing and another – from peer pressure to role models to advertising – we soon start putting on the masks and we become different people and put on different costumes throughout our lives. It takes a long time (and sometimes it’s never achieved) before we close the circle and get back to our original state of, maybe not innocence, but at least honesty and being true to ourselves.

And here our journey begins…

Choose your mask by © Heather King


It’s out outlook the way we view the world that makes us put on the masks and conform to the labels we (feel we) are stuck with.

Alert & Alarmed by © msdebbie
Future dystopia:
Outlook – myopia.
Blurring boundaries:
societal pressure.
Values shifting:
religious inertia.
Corporate collisions:
perfect pretence.
Intuitive indecision:
abject offence.
Deceiving appearance:
my smile a defence.
Outlook – myopia:
Future dystopia.

Is it about hiding who we are or putting on a pretty face over our insecurities?

Beautiful Liar by © strawberries


Are we inviting madness by hiding our true selves away behind masks?

Madness by © RebeccaWeston
Oh no, you can’t come out.
Go back inside and wait.
You’ll make me say or do
something, I am going to hate.
Please don’t come out
when people are here.
You normally show in private
when there’s no one near.
Don’t put me thru this torment.
Get back inside I say!
I’ll talk to you later,
when these people go away.
God, your just not listening.
now I will have to run.
All the startled faces,
asking questions, making fun.
I’m ashamed and bloody angry,
they’ll never understand
that once you’ve made your mind up,
I’m at your, command.
Alone now, do your worst,
bang my head against the wall.
Digging nails in, pulling hair,
throwing things – do it all!
Soon you will return
to your safe, dark hiding place.
I’ll pick up all the pieces
and hide you from disgrace.

Our instincts and intuition are strong and not easily held back.

En el jardin primitivo by © Barbara Bezina


This never becomes clearer when those we hold dear and those who shaped us fall away and leave us to struggle on by ourselves.

Blood Dust by © wildwomenlove
I’m scared of dying
you know?
I didn’t think I was
But I am
I lie in bed at night
stare at the ceiling
Wondering
does the death rattle hurt?
Will my soul slide through my fontanelle?
Will my dad be there to collect me?
Where will I go?
How will I know, which door?
I witness the aunties, uncles, parents
topple like skittles
Makes me wonder
who’s next?
I feel the earthquake
Shaking
in the centre of
my core
Those arms that have held me steady
Guidance disintegrating
into blood dust
Lifted on a transient wind
Armies of generation
limping to the frontline
Shielding the bullets
so that we may live
I didn’t know how cataclysmic it would feel
How the realization of mortality
would monsoon the foundations
of my frenzied world
Will this central quaking
inch me forward
toward
the front line?
The earth tremors
Breaks open
we all
fall down
Blood
becomes dust
after all

The thirst for life, for giving in to those needs long supressed….

infusion by © Heather King


and the acknowledgement of those needs that drive us closer to the edge.

vestiges by © ShadowDancer
the residue of you,
atoms of nothingness,
has slowly wound itself
around my spine,
sprouting like clusters of
red jasper between the spaces
of my crooked vertebrae,
hardened and incessant,
leaving trace elements of
ash and destruction
on my tongue,
these remnants of you
reach far beyond what
ever was of us,
with a raspy murmur it
fills my bloodstream with
a rancid poison of
want
memories of your love
are like
blood and tulips
beautiful
but the death of me

Sometimes we give in, when we feel there’s nothing to go on for….

Birdy fallen by © annacuypers


and sometimes we reach this flashpoint where the decision has to be made and we pull through.

Flashpoint by © MoonlightLover
I thought it was permanent,
My shattered pride.
I once was innocence
But it turned on its side,
A black cloud rained over me
It followed my every move
Knee deep in the memories
Where there once was truth.
I realised how I so wanted time
To put things into perspective,
Something I tried so hard to find.
Just for one moment I thought I’d found the way,
But as my destiny unfolded
I watched it slip away.
Like a global flashpoint, I was beyond all reach,
Solitary was at my command, all which I’d like to keep.
I took a ride to the frontier, to see what I could find
A ruined collection of dreams and past desires,
Dumped like garbage on a roadside!
You will never realise the miles I’d had to go,
And all those dark corners of my room
I did not know.
It was just for one moment I thought I heard a call
To look beyond the day in hand,
There was nothing, nothing there at all.
Now that I’ve realised how it had gotten so wrong,
Had to find some therapy, but the treatment took way too long.
But deep inside my heart, it was love who lead the way,
It finally found my destiny before it slipped away.

And maybe sometimes it’s a matter of walking away to become who we are.

She took her wings and walked by © Catrin Welz-Stein


Spring cleaning of self accomplished.

The good house of self by © su2anne
Perfection invited
Kill Joy to
Reside.
They ganged up and
Let loose
Envy and
Fear. Room by
Room all Good
Was emptied and
All that was left were the
Cohorts of
Misery and
Despair.
So it was
Surprise who had to
Come knocking…
Curiosity and
Loneliness came next.
Until there was a huge party
Beheld! Bliss and
Reason were unconcerned for
Excitement and
Trust had taken
Foundation.
Remorse and dread
Left with their
Tails firmly tucked
Between their legs and the
Others scurrying behind…
And so it was the Good
House of Self stood
Unsupported and
Joy returned to
Stay.

Hope you enjoyed today’s trip through our amazing gallery and library. Tell the artists/authors if you did. There’s nothing quite like someone telling you that they loved what you did.

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