Thomas Hart Benton An American Original

(Kansas City)  I recall enjoying the brisk September air, and that flap jacks were sitting heavy in my stomach.  I had just eaten at a local greasy spoon.  I was enamored with all of the big pretty white suburban houses.   Then, I chanced upon the former residence of Thomas Hart Benton.   I had no idea who he was.  I decided to go and visit and find out!   I am glad I did.  His studio was left just as if he had gone out for an errand, downtown.  Coffee cans held paintbrushes.  His studio was a  place where work had been done, not necessarily orderly and clean. A place reserved for creative expression.  Thomas Hart Benton embodied the Western Landscape just like the buffalo did long ago.

 Thomas Hart Benton
on the model for Susana: 
"that delightful hillbilly girl (a true Ozark product gone wrong) who became the model for "Susannah" - My boy- what a skin what a blood pulsing skin - just enough yellow in the belly to make the tits look pink - we don't find models like that anymore."
on his art 
"We were different in our temperaments and many of our ideas, be we were alike in that we were all in revolt against the unhappy effects which the Armory Show of 1913 had had on American painting.  We objected to the new Parisian aesthetics which was more and more turning art away from the living world of active men and women into an academic world of empty patterns."

Simpson Marc, Sally Mills and Jennifer Saville The American Canvas Paintings from the Collection of the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1989), 218.

Wednesday: Going Deeper, Who's the Ape?

We the Zoo Keepers standing in front of the Chimp Cage. The chimps are kept safely from us caged behind titatnium bars. One chimp, Geraldo attempts to hide a banana from the rest of the apes. He goes to the hanging tire and places the banana inside the tube. He grins with triumph. But we know its a matter of time before Harry, Geraldo's arch rival, finds the hidden fruit. We stare in anticipation. Geraldo is affraid that we will give his hiding place away, and growls towards our direction, showing all his teeth. We stare back pointing and grunting. Geraldo growls back in Protest.

I watched last night, before me,
a duckling become an elegant swan.
She stood upright in her sack cloth dress,
Her voice tightened amongst cat calls,
Salivating critics licked their chops,
Thinking, "Oh -Yeah?!
Another: klutzy, untalented, tone deaf, chump!
She opened her mouth in triumph,
her voice flew out fluttering.
With gossamer wings,
wiping tears that appeared in front of my eyes,
Wings wrapped around me and
Whipped the dirt from my frame,
I had seen an ugly duckling,
but now I saw beauty take flight.

Poem by Gregorio Roth

Sometimes it is good to show revision of my writing, the first draft appeared on Polycarp 55 yesterday. Check out the inspiration here: Britains Got Talent.