THE MASKS WE WEAR
Posted by Hello

The paintings above are by the Belgian Expressionist painter James Ensor (1860-1949)
" whose unique portrayals of grotesque humanity made him a principal precursor of 20th-century expressionism and surrealism.

Ensor deliberately used harsh, garish colors and violent, broken brushstrokes to heighten the violent effect of his subjects. His work had an important influence on 20th-century painting, his lurid subject matter paving the way for surrealism and Dada, and his techniques particularly his brushwork and his coloristic sense leading directly to expressionism."

James Ensor By They Might Be Giants There are a number of sites dealing with his art work.

Surfing the net:

While I was searching for images to go with the poem THE MASKS WE WEAR I found a number of works by James Ensor. Then I discovered a song called MEET JAMES ENSOR by THEY MIGHT BE GIANTS . I then downloaded a few of their songs some like FishHeads are rather bizarre & funny. They also did the theme song for Dr. Evil of Austin Power & a song about beer & the Theme from the TV series MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE which was one of the better sit-coms on TV.

Some of their songs also bring to mind that delightful auteur & comic genius Spike Jones & his strange & absurdist version of Big Band music in the 1940s etc. This is especially evident in TMBG's renditions of ISTANBUL & PUTTIN ON THE RITZ & FISH HEADS.

On their website for their new release of children's songs it is set up as a shooting gallery and is sort of Monty Pythonesque. Check it out !!!

They Might Be Giants -Birdhouse In Your Soul Anyway here is a little poem of mine to soothe your frayed nerves dear gentle reader:

THE MASKS WE WEAR

searching for a mask to wear
trying on one identity or another
where is my true face you ask
& I wonder about it
for awhile til I realize
it is forever changing
from day to day
no longer am I
who you believed I was
no longer am I
who I believed I was
lost for a time in some role I played
I see a stranger in the mirror
is that who you see
what then do you see ?

what mask do you see
an aging recluse
a lazy indifferent fool
a shrivelled up celibate monk
a Don Juan passed his prime
a no talent poet
a witless philosopher
a true phrophet & metaphysician
a pot head in need
of a nightly bed-time toke
scribbling cliches late into the night
in the grips of 3am blues
stumbling over the profound
digging down into my depths
finding emptiness & silence
& nothing more & nothing less
filling me with fear
regretting all of it
regretting everything
je tout regrette-


filling my head
with the voices of others
of the bards & troubadors of old
of philosophers & poets
their voices speaking chanting
& singing swirl around
inside the jumble jar
mixed in with fragments of memory
strange stray wild thoughts
which might be my own
unable to disentangle them-

finding myself inside Plato's cave
confused by the shadows on the walls
on a street corner in ancient Athens arguing
with Socrates about ethics & the essence
of the universe sitting throughout a night
& a day with the Buddha beneath
the sacred Bodhi tree dancing wildly
in elysian fields with Lord Krishna
sharing a pipe of tobacco in a humble
hovel with Thoreau beside Walden pond
sharing a ride across America with Kerouac
riding the rails with Woody Guthrie
through the Dust Bowl into the rich green
valleys of California assisting Walt Whitman
as he tends those wounded in some
Civil War battle watching frivolous thoughts
pass through my mind as I spend a day
lazing about on a river bank beside Lao Tsu
fishing for enlightenment
walking along the streets of Dublin
visiting various bars with my companion
overly intellectualized James Joyce-

furniture & decorations
for the mind
what gains a home there
what is temporary
heard seen felt
then we move on
putting some things in storage
others we sell in a yardsale
all cash offers accepted-

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