I celebrate the arts
When I read a good poem
Watch a piece of moving cinema
Or touched by theater as a slice of life.
I celebrate the arts
When dance goes beyond motion
And liberate mobility
To the level of indescribable phrase
Of movement.
I celebrate music
When the sound goes beyond
Its source: the stage, a player
Or clips from a podcast
And go straight to your being
After touching your heart
And mind.
When nothing moves you
There is nothing to celebrate
As bureaucratic rituals
Turn to emptiness
With speeches weighed down
By clichés
And the arts take
The back seat.
I don’t like the mindset
That says good music
Is not for the common man
And therefore they should hear nothing
But music that appeal to the feet
And not anything to illuminate
The throbbing of our hearts
And mind.
It is national arts month.
Shall we dance?
Shall we take flight on the wings of song?
Should we cheer live theater
Or celebrate
Rono or Kurosawa?
Or should we just accept
That there is no place for poems
In congress or in the palace
Or even in the museums?
Will wait for that uncertain time
When a new day
Is greeted
By the warm presence
Of a singer
Of a dancer of consequence
An actor
Or a poet
Who can see
Beyond the emptiness
Of our existence.