A bowl of honey loops in vinegar.
A pot of noodles cooked in palm oil.
An Amala Jam doughnut.
A yellow dot.
A unicorn with a half-eaten corn cob for a horn.
A fountain pen with water for ink.
A river that flowed in two directions at once.
A cat on its back.
A hole.
A song with with the lyrics sang backwards.
A rotting diamond.
A mule.
“Interesting..”
“Poignant!”
“Deep!!”
“I am edified!!!”
“This is a brilliant juxtaposition of the elements of nature and humanness in colorful array.”
“The tears of one at war with the socio-cultural ambiguity of today’s terse intelligence.”
“Salient!”
I looked at them all, the critics, as they shared their opinions of the art exhibition. They all gave positive reviews, none of them with courage enough to voice his lack of understanding. A glass of expensive wine in each hand, they nodded like lizards and made funny faces in a public show of erudition.
My art.
My art was to prove a point.
The art was art alright. Not deep art, not poignant art, and definitely not edifying in any way. It was simply a product of random imagination brilliantly executed. I am an artist renown: A sculptor, a photographer, a chef, a writer and a songwriter. I am successful in all these endeavors. This good fortune of mine translates to goodwill in everything else I do. It is that simple!
“What was the point?”, you may ask.
“Don’t you see it already?”, I would ask in turn.
There is bias in every judgement and very few would tell you how they really feel. Better yet, maybe the critics say what they really feel, maybe my success is a veil over their eyes, so that they cannot see objectively anymore. If you ask any of them what his comments really means, he would launch into an even more equivocal explanation that arrives at no point in particular.
You don’t get it yet?
Ask a simple man who does not know me and therefore does not know that he is expected by society to react in a certain manner. He would tell you that the exhibition does not make any sense whatsoever. He is not shallow, he is honest.
“What is the point?”, you still ask?
Read tomorrow’s papers. On the front page, I would tell the world a story.
The story of an artist who’s real art was to watch people make a fool of themselves, acting out the dog-eared script of ‘tag-along’ because society expects them to . The fools of this joke are the ones everybody thinks wise. The ones who even more so, think themselves wise.
I really like this, makes a lot of sense. Nice 1. Totally on point.
Thanks Lowlar. Been a while.
This is deep!
I hope you got that; no? *sigh*
I love this! Great, great! I know brilliant people! You’re absolutely brilliant! Ok, I’m done gushing.
Silly people- Seeing things where there’s nothing.
Smiles. That smile you know.
I have no words really. You Mr. Wole are a genius!
Humbling words sir. True.
WOW…. *clapping* u r good! Damn!!
Thanks for reading. Please do come again?
*sigh* one day,I shall write as inspiringly as this…*looks dreamily into the distance*
Looks dreamily into distance along with you, thinking about Pak’t from Pantheon(3) on your blog and hoping I’d find his an instance of his spirit somewhere over the horizon.
Hehehe…see infatuation sha!! *low bow*
Oluwole Bankole! mmmm…Deep! LOL!
True words there man. I think I’ve unconsciously been in those shoes at a time. Your style is just unique man. I hail ooo!
Haven’t we all?
I can’t deny that I haven’t been a savvy moron one or two times, or I wouldn’t be somehow find myself doing same in the future.
At least I won’t deceive myself.
As I, I don’t even know what I want to say now. This is so good. And true too!
@ekwe Amen oh! Me too!
Thanks a lot Cecenostockings, and you’re free to say anything you want.
I guess ur right.
Folks should learn jot to follow d bandwagon
After all, d poem rendered are just paradoxes dat really can’t happen
LOL.
Good to have you around again, Ranti.
Great stuff bruv…my first time on ur blog BTW…u speak d truth here…most critics will make criticisms based on d prevailin opinion…to either favor it or not…very few wld be objective in their analysis.
Bottom line for any artist/artiste…never believe ur own hype…
I have a new key on my holder now.
“Never believe your own hype”
Thanks for visiting too. Please come again! 🙂
dude isn’t your ass jealous of the shit that comes out of your mouth!!!!
#confam read
LOL, I didn’t know my ass had opinion, I’d be sure to ask it.
Thanks for visiting bruv!
LOL, I didn’t know my ass had an opinion, I’d be sure to ask it.
Thanks for visiting bruv!
err okay…I’ll have to admit when I first started reading this, after the first few lines, I lost interest. Had to come back a 2nd time and then get to the text beneath the poem before I begun to appreciate it.
Like it or not, the bandwagon effect is something that’s here to stay, we subconsciously just hop on it. Nice.
LOL at your discouragement at the first few lines.
You’re right. At the end of the day, it’s something that happens to the best of us.
lol.
that being said, human beings don’t like to feel stupid. it doesn’t quite matter if we are stupid or not, as long as most of the world thinks we aren’t. and as for the few people that know how stupid we really are, we just convince ourselves that they’re the stupid ones. does that make any sense?
each to his own, i guess. if being a sheep works for you… oh well. it’s a weird world.
interesting post, tho.
Thanks TecknicoleurGirl,
You’re very right! Someone once told me and artist would criticize the world even though he can’t fix it.
I guess this is something similar.
Haha. This sounds A LOT like you Bankole. A lot 🙂
Now I don’t know if that is good or bad, sounding a lot like me.
Good stuff! Ah I, for one, can hardly resist hyping away hf Im really fascinated by something. Almost nothing would stop me… Hmm that hivemind bandwagon effect, its the new Matrix. Good piece again, Banxman.
Thanks bruv,
Like I replied the other commentators, I’m not totally excluding myself from the pack of ‘Savvy Morons’ as well. Hype does have it’s effect on judgement.
Savvy morons say they are diplomats. People who do as the world expects without rocking the boat. We have all fallen victim at one time or another. Oh well i guess it is human. It sure pays to be honest. Good job. I enjoyed reading this
Thanks SoftAsSilk,to admit it.
First off, interesting name.
Secondly, I think you’ve got a point there, but again, diplomacy is when you know the truth and are smart enough to preen it up. Savvy morons sometimes are note even sure what the truth is, or are too deluded to admit it.
LOL! nice post. i know i’m guilty of pretending to understand some blogger’s poems even though they may be speaking italian-french for all i know. does that make me a savvy moron?
Yes it does KitKat. 🙂
At least you’re a savvy one, LOL, and aren’t we all?
to think i stumbled upon this blog….
now i know i have a lot to learn.
Great stuff here sire…
i’m signing up.
Hey Griffinthinks,
It’s glad to have you over. We all do have a lot to learn, by the way.
Please do visit us again soon.
My first impression (no disrespect) was that the comments are all from ‘savvy morons’. Then again aren’t we all ‘savvy morons’ if we believe any opinion is truly ours rather than a combination of encironment and conditioning. Love the blog btw.