Bedtime Story Conservatory 69 04/06/2020
Hello everyone,
I woke up this morning and felt very irritable and unclear, and I wrote this very short poem at my desk when I came out of the shower, I wanted to share it with you, I don't know what it's called yet:
Small insect on wall
Stand in front of it
Insect moves 2cm to the left
Made me think about how my experiences are all appropriated by me as they happen, the insect moves and if i'm in a spot between two points, such as an interim between activities, or in the midst of a difficult decision, the movement of the insect, or the direction in which a drop of water spits from the washing up sponge, or any sort of moment like this, becomes a sort of affirmation of the moment and your own place within it and in relation to the moment. (?)
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An assemblage by and a portrait of Betye Saar (1926, 93 yrs old), a female African American artist and a key figure in the L.A. art scene of the 1970's. She was also a member of the NYC black artists collective Rodeo Caldonia in the 80's. She would buy materials that drew her back to her childhood for her object work from thrift shops, and after the assassination of MLK jr, her work became more radical, using racist ephemera and subverting their meaning.
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Today's reading is Words 1965 by Amiri Baraka (1934-2014), cited as the most influential African American writer of the 1960's, a writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays and music criticism. His work often revolves around black liberation, and white racism.
After the assassination of Malcom X, he changed his name from LeRoi Jones to Amiri Bakara, and founded the Black Arts Repertory/Theatre in Harlem amidst the Black Arts Movement (BAM) of the 60's and 70's. The School of the BARTS attracted artists such as Sun Ra and and Sonia Sanchez.
I also found this link to PDF's of the files the FBI kept on Baraka, and other influential African American authors accused of sympathising with communism:
http://omeka.wustl.edu/omeka/exhibits/show/fbeyes/baraka
The song attached the the track is St-Clementine-On-Tea-And-Croissants 2015 by Benjamin Clementine.
Links:
I hope that you are enjoying these emails, again I am open to feedback of any kind. Thinking of you, which is easy to say, but as I write this I am thinking of your faces. Thank you for being part of this again.
Love,
Sam
