Fred Aiken Writing

Tag: art

July 26, 2023

A QUESTION POSED TO MISTER DORIAN GRAY

i learned from the portrait of dorian gray that it’s best
not to let a mediocre artists paint a portrait of you,
nor let mediocre personalities (including yourself) adore you,
only to be wrapped up in your own ego
to the point where youth and time mean nothing, 
when the superficialities strip away, 
leaving bare
what was never there

though also to that point, 
i wonder what the story of dorian gray would have been like
if rather than a beautiful painting of his youth he kept hidden away,
it was a cartoon caricature?

March 13, 2023

Shiny Art that Looks Better in Streets Owned by the Rich

artsy cafes in a concrete town,

sipping anaerobic coffee in anaerobic bubbles,

the streets loud with arts and crass

yet finding moments of poise amidst losing syllables dribbling across traffic lines;

amidst the chaos, seek some peace in the music that makes hearts release signs of logic taped up and shipped

to the nearest dream with a PO box

controlled by pieces of a puzzle handled by shadowy figures

laundering misdeeds through art spreading out into the city like viruses without a mend;

but mintable