It is in the wee hours of the morning as this column is written, and there is a film of aguite - a bluesy kind of sadness upon the fine filament of joy at spending the day and evening celebrating with artist friends. We were joined by the camaraderie of San Anto artists Victor Tello and Jim Valdez, then we went to Tello's studio where artists painted images while poetry flowed. A tertulia came into being, and the ideas flowed. There is also a sense of the angst, the powerful emotion of incarceration eating at his guts as he lashed out stark images of pain, while lines of human hunger and caressive ideals reached out to younger bards and artists.
Life is such an arbitrary thing, as people come and go, leaving their tracks upon our thinking.
In our culture of hectic activities, of often times not taking time out to celebrate those we respect, it is news of death that forces us to reflect. I feel the loss, and then see my friends in the throes of creating art. A smile dances about in my mind as I realize the rare privilege of seeing people create beauty from raw sheets of paper and oil pastel sticks. The easels glisten with the images of Tello and Valdez, and it is the power of culture, of human creativity helping us touch base with each other's mortality and creative dreams.