Let’s talk more about chaos.
Over the past few years, I’ve been thinking a lot about values, ethics, purpose, morality…
And along those lines, I’ve wondered what it might mean to live artfully. To embody an artful life.
I’ve gotten pretty good at looking for artistry and meaning in places one might not expect it. Sometimes, it feels like a satisfying creative experiment just to do the looking—just to ask the question “is there art here?”
A tangent:
When I was a kid, I LOVED the movie adaptation of Oscar Wilde’s “An Ideal Husband.” I remember feeling absolutely bewitched by the dialogue. I had the distinct thought that I wanted SO badly to speak with that kind of eloquence as an adult.
Now, I find myself thinking – if one can manage to speak with a similar lilt to classic literary dialogue…is the real-time speech writing? Similarly, is brilliant jazz improv composition?
If a painting implies a narrative, is the painter a storyteller? If so, is the painter…a writer?
If Ted Lasso was a real person, could we call him a conductor?
Is everything everything?
Is anything anything?
I can’t get enough of it. The line between profundity and banality is so wonderfully thin to me, sometimes.
Here’s something silly.
I’ve had terrible insomnia as long as I can remember. Just the midnight busy brain curse. If you know it, you know it.
The wee-small-hours busy brain is an odd beast. She’s sometimes wise, and just as often ridiculous. She has great ideas, and very impractical ones.
Increasingly, I cherish the notes I write to myself and to trusted friends in the middle of the night. They’re a joy to rediscover in the sober light of day—for better and for worse.
Lately, I like thinking of these semi-conscious midnight notes as their own silly medium. Like…are they poems?
MIDNIGHT POME 1:
I like being a person who knows about orchid mantids.
And I should just lead with that.
MIDNIGHT POME 2:
Raspberry, brie, kielbasa, pistachios…
Thai basil?
Melty cheese not mozz
MIDNIGHT POME 3:
Am I an artist?
Am I adding extra steps?
Are my actual thoughts enough?
I could just talk about my actual thoughts,
but instead, I think I need to read a new book or start listening to a new podcast
…or take up witchcraft.
^^^ this has been an extra step.
So. What do you think?
Also, I am working on an art project to share with you soon.
Wishing you the blurriest nothing+everything weekend.
Love,
Emily
