Mom’s book, let’s continue

Houston /

I am on a mission /

Not the mission into Space

/

I am on a harder mission /

Longer mission — into Earth

Houston /

When I see this Earth /

I want fireworks and diamonds /

But instead it’s a wake

of ships falling,

Houston /

We are all in this /

We have dreams of Outer Space /

But this mission is the toughest /

Our mission /

Into Earth

I became more of a thinker and a capturer of reality — still poetic reality, still with beautiful things. Even taking my dog for a walk was poetry.

Fern and roses /

Nice lady gives me three avocados /

through the fence /

One ripe, two are not /

she says /

Now Christmas lights /

everywhere /

Ornaments on trees


Pretend - snow /

covering a ceramic /

little house


In the window /

plastic icicles, mirror, /

my Mom

calls from San Fran / -

it’s freezing cold /

down here she says


Not here — I say /

not in L.A.

~ ~ ~

I press a button in the shape of a triangle, pointing to the right. And she’s here. She’s talking to me.

Painter doesn’t have to use a brain. Painter is someone who uses, like, intuition. A painter can paint a disaster and find a logic in the disaster, which is not what the brain would be telling you. And so, is a writer a thinker? I think a writer is… a thinker who is using mostly observation. Is that interesting? I think it is. …

  • And a painter is more thinking with instinct?

Like intuition. A thinker is using logic. A painter is using intuition. And a writer is using observation. They’re all thinkers, using different tools.

  • So you think there is less intuition in a writer and more in a painter?

No no, it could be all of it. It could be a little bit of everything.

  • Do you think your intuitions were mostly right? Or were they wrong? If a painter is a thinker with intuition.

I think it’s a very… abstract terms. It’s very non-defined, completely. Not black and white, that’s why it’s difficult to explain. Very often I had no intuition. I’m struggling for logic. And I’m struggling for intuition. Your intuition is huge. My intuition was – I mean right now my intuition is much better, with years. With time. My intuition gets better. Your intuition was from day one great and I don’t know how you do it. … So, what else is there? For example, a dancer. A dancer is not a thinker —

  • I think a dancer is an athlete sprinkled with art.

— Mm-hmm! I think a dancer is a great mimic of things. Of living things. Like when a dancer is dancing you see birds, you see animals. To me, you see animals. I think a dancer is, is… I think a dancer is actually celebrating creation. A musician is celebrating logic, because a musician has to have – there is so much math in music, more than in any other area of art. …

  • Babcia always says she thinks music is the greatest art, the top.

Yes, because I think it just — we have a right and left brain, and with music, music is a perfect balance of right and left brain. You have to be very precise. Mathematically precise and incredibly intuitive.

~ ~ ~

… or visiting my son and his girlfriend in the Marina …

It’s a quiet Christmas Day /

Down in Marina del Rey /

Fog horn is the only sound /

Robes holding angels /

Ready to fly /

on a yacht like this /

I could die /

Josh in his flannel PJ’s. /

But he looks good anyways /

April in black winter coat /

Will never go back to New York /

It’s hard to tell what to wear /

Down in Marina Del Rey /

Don’t think that life is unfair /

Having a chance to be here /

Oh, what a fabulous air

I realized that I was writing about Los Angeles, so I continued: 30 poems within maybe 3 weeks

Silver Dust

Long ago and very far

I was standing

With the star on my forehead

Made of paper

The city of my dreams

Came later

Long ago a box I held in my hand

Said hallo to a silver dust dancing

Today in LA, dreams are like silver glitter

And my heart filled with hope is bursting


Painting and poems by Anna Gajewska.

Conversation from August 10, 2023. Nine days before.

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