The Plight of the Abstract Artist

The thing is, people need a grounding,
a point of reference,
at least a hint.

We flounder poorly.
We don’t do lost well,
There’s a reason we cling to our God.

And so these splashes of paint
need a title, preferably something less cryptic
than “Blue Swirls #4”.

otherwise all that passion and vision
becomes invisible
in the guessing game, and we are left

with mixed media
and mixed messages,
the mind of the artist and ourselves at battle in our heads.

About this poem

Could be about art. Could be about mixed messages in life. Heck, it could also be about the mixed messages in religion. Poetry, like abstract art, allows you to choose.

The photograph is a detail from a recent painting, “The Parting Seas”.

Tom