The Maskfisherman
He couldn't hide anymore,
so went fishing for masks.
Caught a maskfish,
held it against his body
and wore the costume
closer than his wife.
He ceased blowing horns, too
and beating steel pan
and calling out with a voice unfamiliar to him
inside of dry, judgmental rooms.
He became a maskfisherman
and found ways of obscuring from the world
what he believed to be truths about his life.
He fished for these veils
covered his face with corals
entombed his body inside of seaweed and nets
evacuated wife and sun for the company of the moon.
He took down the moon, too,
slapped the glare off its arrogant face
and positioned it over his own.
In the morning the world woke up in darkness
beneath the sea, tribes of maskfish
extinguished their lights.
The maskfisherman
stalked all of the world's river banks
and beaches
unmasked many he found
searching for candles and suns,
on totems he carried
the carcass of their illusions
costumed them in breeze.
by Tiffany Osedra Miller
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4 comments:
This one I love it! I can stay here half an hour to watch the colour of the seaside, you've used a mix of colours that ipnotize me into this and make me only think about the waves that brings you into the deep deep sea,like the thougths that mealt with our deep deep souls. Then your art want to shout other feelings of course, I just wanted to stop and concentrate on the sea!
An interesting poem and compelling painting. However, just something to think about: perhaps putting on masks is a natural state of being. We all aspire to be something more or better than what we are, is reflecting that aspiration "donning a mask" - and if so, to what extent is putting on a mask a positive act of self-improvement? But this is apparently not the intent of the poem - your fisherman puts on masks to hide himself, but in essence, by putting on these masks, he is telling a truth about himself - namely that he has no identity underneath. Thanks for giving me something to contemplate.
"He took the moon, too,/slapped the glare off its arrogant face/and positioned it over his own."
I like words like these, that take our common icons (the moon/June) and twist them into a new context that rattles my perception and gives me a new angle from my own emotions, my own view.
And the contrast of the dark colors of the words to the bright colors of the illustration.
You take your own world, and through your art, make it part of my own.
Thank you.
this painting trips me out, they always have a lovely sense of wonder.
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