Values
We have velvet theories
about boys becoming men,
the mysteries of plumbing,
the illegality of roofing,
and how to lie to council.
We have regnant theories about
risk taking,
seed mysteries,
and how to live one’s life more fully.
We have blanket theories
re. manipulating subtext,
re. throwing back caught fish,
re. swaddling our daughters,
and shifting trochee feet.
We have had impasto theories.
These, however, are illegible.
About Basil Eliades
I am more interested in the energy of a word, of an object, than the shape of it. For me, essence is more essential than form. That is why text and image should be big enough to fill one’s mouth, and the experience of reading it aloud like drinking molten chocolate or having one’s shoulders rubbed. The parts of a poem or painting may not mean something logically, but they may well mean something illogically or use a different logic, such as that of the subconscious or dream state. The way a poem or painting is read, or said, or accepted, means as much as the cadence that is written into it. Reading a poem or an image aloud should be like being filled with hormones, or having music inserted in your spine. This is not to say that energy and its source are of more importance than the result – the image or text. Neither works without the other; neither exists without the other. Each is determined by its relationship with other. The container is as essential as the ‘negative’ space within it. Neither follows the other; they dance, like yin/yang, in perpetual motion. Every word, every breath, is related, and every relationship is related because everything is relative. And because nothing exists in isolation, the ‘interconnectedness of all things’ is a base value of the self, of the within, of the essence that affects all processes. Poetry and painting and ceramics and, for that matter, cooking or teaching absolutely belong with one another. I see little difference between playing a piano and working with clay; they both require an understanding of energy. And yes, there is technique and skill, to varying degrees, but even then there is little difference. One may as well be kneading clay, kneading dough, or giving a massage. They are programmed into our DNA. All one has to do is listen hard enough with one’s fingers, feel the air, know the breeze, and things occur as if by themselves.
