Welcome back to the odd and whimsical poetery of the Peeps related to holidaze! Let’s investigate what today is, because we need all the holidaze we can celebrate, right?
Lately, every day seems to be many holidays! Which is good, because we all have our favorites. So I will pick out one or two, and you can click the link above if you’re curious about the rest. This is an Open Thread, so please feel free to add your favorite pomes and photoes and holidaze for today in the Comments!
First a solemn note (no worries, we will resume fun shortly down below):
Today is About One Year Since The First Covid Case In the US, And Today We Have Passed 400,000 Deaths
There was a beautiful, moving ceremony at the Reflecting Pool in DC today including 400 lanterns, reflecting the power of a real President (if you missed it and wish you hadn’t, see PBS for full video). It made things a little dusty here, but it’s healing dust.
Yesterday was MLK Day
Officebss did a wonderful MLK tribute with quotes and poetery in yesterday’s MOT. If you missed it, you may want to go here. Here are a few snippets:
Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced,
where ignorance prevails, and where any one class
is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy
to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons
nor property will be safe.– Frederick Douglass
I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically
bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that
the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never
become a reality . . . I believe that unarmed truth and
unconditional love will have the final word.– Martin Luther King Jr.
Let America be the dream the dreamers dreamed—
Let it be that great strong land of love
Where never kings connive nor tyrants scheme
That any man be crushed by one above..
(It never was America to me.)
— Langston Hughes
Between MLK Day yesterday and Inauguration Day tomorrow is the much-prized Artist as Outlaw Day!
Today is Artist as Outlaw Day
By some definitions, a true artist is one who breaks rules, shifts an art form in new directions, and makes people think in new ways, all while remaining true to their own artistic vision. These earthshaking artists can be seen as outlaws, as they rebel against the conventions of their time. While most outlaw artists forever remain outside of the mainstream, some popular stars have introduced avant-garde concepts and ideas—the Beatles and Bob Dylan being two examples. We celebrate all outlaw artists today, whether they work in visual arts, music, film, writing, or any other type of art.
How to Observe
You could celebrate the day by making your art, or by exploring artists who can be classified as outlaw artists. There are hundreds of such artists, and some may be considered outlaws more so than others. The definition of who qualifies as an outlaw will shift depending on who you ask as well.
I’ve been happy to present OranguTrump with his ridiculous red tie several times, but will refrain tonight. We have had quite enough of him! I thought you might enjoy looking back at less frequent guests. We hope to see their backsides soon (preferably in prison jumpsuits) if we haven’t already too!
Sure, they may look a little foolish. But am I being an outlaw or did they already make themselves look foolish? Maybe both.
Here’s an interesting artists’ website, The Arts Desk: Poems inspired by paintings. One sample:
Nude Descending a Staircase
by X.J. Kennedy
Toe upon toe, a snowing flesh,
A gold of lemon, root and rind,
She sifts in sunlight down the stairs
With nothing on. Nor on her mind.
We spy beneath the banister
A constant thresh of thigh on thigh--
Her lips imprint the swinging air
That parts to let her parts go by.
One-woman waterfall, she wears
Her slow descent like a long cape
And pausing, on the final stair
Collects her motions into shape.
Mew descending a staircase: More or less graceful?