{"id":103944,"date":"2017-12-25T12:01:14","date_gmt":"2017-12-25T12:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=103944"},"modified":"2017-12-25T10:26:46","modified_gmt":"2017-12-25T10:26:46","slug":"art-for-arts-sake-and-cutting-thru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2017\/12\/art-for-arts-sake-and-cutting-thru\/","title":{"rendered":"Art for Art\u2019s Sake\u2026 (And Cutting Thru)\u2026."},"content":{"rendered":"

In 2007, Sotheby\u2019s
\nauctioned a can of artist\u2019s shit
\nfor 180,000 dollars.<\/p>\n

\u201cSophisticated,\u201d \u201ccultured\u201d types
\nclamored to buy a tin of shit
\nan auction house called \u201cArt.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the \u201cmarket place of ideas\u201d
\nno one demurred
\nthat a thousand hungry kids
\ncould eat all winter
\non the money a jackass paid
\nfor another jackass\u2019s shit!<\/p>\n

In our turvy world of razzmatazz,,
\n\u201cA little learning is a dang\u2019rous thing\u201d
\nand most of what we \u201cknow\u201d
\nwe do not know,
\n(or know by rote,
\nor from a meme picked up like a virus
\nfrom an infected lover).<\/p>\n

\u201cTest axioms on the pulses,\u201d Keats advised\u2013
\n(with the usual genius-disregard
\nfor others being as wise as he.
\n(\u201cAxiom?\u00a0 What\u2019s axiom?\u201d)<\/p>\n

Against this moral turpitude
\nwhere anything that sells is \u201cart,\u201d
\nand leggy girls sell \u201cnews\u201d between
\na pharmaceutical haze and sheen,
\nthe soul struggles not to be subsumed
\nby tawdry trinkets of acknowledgment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe true poet,\u201d Owen wrote,
\n\u201cmust be a witness,\u201d sound alarms.
\n(He watched men retch and writhe
\nfrom mustard gas.
\nHe wrote it down, then died
\njust short of Armistice.)<\/p>\n

\u201cListen!<\/em>\u201d the sanctimonious judge intones
\n\u201chas the same letters as\u2026\u201d\u2013solemnly <\/em>intoning\u2014
\n\u201csilent<\/em>!\u201d she concludes,
\nberating the perplexed defendant,
\nseeking to expound,
\nseeking\u2026absolution?<\/p>\n

I want to say, \u201ctinsel, <\/em>also\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Every concession to fraudulence
\nabominates the soul,
\nchips at our humanity
\nand we become
\ncheap, plastic chips
\non a Roulette table wagered
\nfor 30 silver pieces.<\/p>\n

Day by day we weave
\na web of lies
\nand demos <\/em>plays 2nd<\/sup> fiddle
\nbecause the final score\u2019s a riddle
\nonly the Conductor knows;<\/p>\n

or\u2026if we have the will,
\ncutting thru
\nobsessions of the sickened mind,
\nand all chicanery,
\nwe build<\/p>\n

a web of diamond beads\u2014
\neach reflecting each;<\/p>\n

polishing, refining,
\n(if we have the will
\nand minds to learn
\nand will to heal),<\/p>\n

testing diamonds on the glass of fashion,
\ncutting through<\/p>\n

refining, refining\u2026polishing<\/p>\n

universal diamond beads
\nof truth.<\/p>\n

________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dr. Gary Steven Corseri is a m<\/em>ember of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace Development Environment.<\/a> He<\/em> has published and posted articles, fiction and poems at hundreds of venues, including,<\/em> TMS (Transcend Media Service<\/a>)<\/a>, The New York Times, Village Voice, Redbook Magazine and<\/em> Counterpunch.\u00a0 He has published 2 novels and 2 collections of poetry, and his dramas have been produced on<\/em> PBS-Atlanta and elsewhere.\u00a0 He has performed his poems at the Carter Presidential Library and Museum and has taught in universities in the US and Japan, and in US public schools and prisons.\u00a0 Contact: Gary_Corseri@comcast.net<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Earlier versions of this poem appeared at <\/em>Dissident Voice and<\/em> The Smirking Chimp in 2013.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2007, Sotheby\u2019s
\nauctioned a can of artist\u2019s shit
\nfor 180,000 dollars.
\n\u201cSophisticated,\u201d \u201ccultured\u201d types
\nclamored to buy a tin of shit
\nan auction house called \u201cArt.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":84067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[182],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-103944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-poetry-format"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}