Category Thoughts About Art & Culture

What We Lack

~~~~~ Rain patters, drops on the roof, tickles the windows, plops in puddles. Laughs, cries, reminds us of sunlight, which is always there, though unseen. We no longer believe the sun rests when we can see it no longer, Whether night or clouds, our own cave, where we crawl to disappear. The only one who […]

The Score

~~~~~ Target Practice ~ Philip Brent Harris Does your life sound off to you; dissonant and assonant? Is it flat or sharp, despite the score on which you must perform it? ~~~~~ People Over Politics, World Over Wealth! Peace is Purpose, Nonviolence is Strength, Diversity is Unity, Empathy is Empowerment Unite the World! ~~~~~ See […]

Does That Count?

~~~~~ Count the steps as you descend into the cool depth of the unknown. There’s movement and music hidden behind closed doors. It is so lovely. Why must it be locked away, alone? Is it only you who are barred? You cannot imagine any reason, anything that you might have done to offend anyone; except […]

Stop Reminding Us

~~~~~ The birds are singing sweetly, swirling, soaring and diving to nature’s rhythms of their own. They are glorious to hear as they trade verses. Each from their own avian symphony. Yet, the metropolis intrudes. There’s no way to silence it, or so it always seems to me. Let us walk together, into the country […]

We Begin

~~~~~ Fly forth radiant doves, Stygian corvids, bright birds of all nations. Fill the sky with sound and color so staggering, we begin to think/ ~~~~~ People Over Politics, World Over Wealth! Peace is Purpose, Nonviolence is Strength, Diversity is Unity, Empathy is Empowerment Unite the World! ~~~~~ See more of my creative offerings at: […]

To See Clearly

~~~~~ Times and places I left long ago Bring memories at odd moments. Not strange, but not sequential. Random and in no way numbered To follow like instructions to explain Who I was, would come to be; games I played and whatever residue they Left inside, behind. Brushed from My hair and shoulders. Brain dust, […]

Life Courageous

~~~~~ Time Bomb ~ Philip Brent Harris What gifts given and received would will my words to sing Tripping lightly from my brain, my heart, my tongue Able to express the subtle hopes of anything and everything The true name of all the life and death I live among Would my hearing need to be […]

My Soapbox Stands

~~~~~ Could I say, to you, the hedgehog wondered And the sailboat rolled across the mighty seas? Dungarees, stonewashed and ripped at the knee. What wars have lasted the longest, I wander?  War Meaningless, to us, endless and fought far away? Insurrectionists and conspiracy  theorists thrive, Hide deep in bunkers until the open the sally […]

Before the Conductor

~~~~~ Speaking to a stranger with common ground, Though the setting is alien to our daily lives. Shared interest, music, a universal language, Waiting, the hall fills, the orchestra appears. Clattering steps down the stairs. Young feet And old changing seats, seeking a best view. To see and hear, closer or farther depending. The orchestra […]

Thoughts at a Concert

~~~~~ A clumsy rearrangement of the players. A forgotten score, a shifting of brass. To see that global warming can call forth Both the ultimate disaster and salvation A perspective I have never dreamed So easy to see once shown, so hidden By prophets and profits, disguising What should be obvious, plain to all. How […]