Truth of an Artist

Any artist of average, or a high level of unrefined talent (potential) can produce a “single” piece of phenomenal work. In this day and age of instant gratification that single piece of work may be enough for people to proclaim your arrival as a great artist, maybe even one of the greatest; albeit prematurely.

The problem; the artist begins to focus their energy solely on creating another single instance of a phenomenal work instead of working on all the little things that will allow them to become masters of their craft. More than likely, they will become lost as an artist as they try to satisfy the thirst of the people. Undoubtedly, they will struggle as they work tirelessly on trying to create another piece that lives up to the lofty expectations of the fans. In most cases, they will fail to ever produce another work of art that satisfies the unrealistic expectations they, an artist of average capability or one with a high level of unrefined talent have been saddled with.

Some artist, will continue putting out several works of “below average” or “average” quality. With the help of slick marketing the artist may even convince the people that they are indeed the artist everyone thinks they are.

Unfortunately for them, the shine and gloss will eventually fail to mask their deficiencies as artist. The support of the people will wane until their fan base is almost non-existent beyond a cult type following. All that will be left are the stories of the artist who was a flash in the pan and the questions of where are they now.

In the best case scenario, the artist through their average talent and slick marketing would have generated a sufficient amount of money to live comfortably, maybe even extravagantly. In the end however, the artist will forever be haunted by questions of who they could have been had they pursued their “truth” instead of the adulation of their fans.

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My Homeless Angel

He emerged from out of nowhere
We were magnetically drawn
Our spirits tangled the tale of two paths
I the chosen one
He the homeless son

We broke bread
Talked
Shared stories of our past

Life
Love
Sadness
We laughed
then yawned
Parted ways with the break of dawn
A look back
He was gone

Souls
Intertwined by the strength of commonality
Me,
Praised for my tenacity
He,
Outcast for his criminality

In reality
We were more the same than not
Two strings
Our souls
Formed the knot that binds
He possessed the soul of our ancestors
Who climbed mountains
His blood flowed deep like mine
Two people from the same fountain
Life

Two examples of the effect of strife
Two spirits trapped and confined
Two people too short on time
Life

Memories
We conversed on his experience
growing up in the “City of Dope”
His childhood dreams
How things don’t always go
As planned
The hard rock life
His struggled journey of becoming a man

Me
Coming up
In a community that lent me a hand

His bouts with addiction
Prison past
The pain of the infliction of racism
School
The duality of life
In one world with contradictory rules

Me
Given respect

Him
The immorality of neglect
The pain of living
But I could see in his eyes
His soul had not been broken yet

The fight of a courageous spirit trying to rise
A life force slowly draining with each
Painful
Day
That passes by
Laying
Hurt and alone on the streets
Downtrodden by his peers
Unprotected by the city
Harassed by the cops walking the crooked beat

I never understood before
Two paths
Two lives
Two souls
Two minds
Two divided by one line
Two human beings
Too short on time
Two apples of the same kind
Two people
You and me
Fallen from branches
Two different sides of one tree
Two different stories
One destiny
Two souls meeting at the crossroads of
Eternity

True Love?

If it’s love; by definition it’s true. If it’s not true, then it’s not love. Saying someone has “True Love” is unnecessary.