Ritual - September 8, 2014

The desires of the heart are as crooked as corkscrews

Not to be born is the best for man

The second best is a formal order

The dance's pattern, dance while you can,

Dance, dance, for the figure is easy

The tune is catching and will not stop

Dance till the stars come down from the rafters

Dance, dance, dance till you drop (W.H. Auden)

This came from a discussion of making art and the need for formality and ritual, which is something foreign to my experience. Though I am inching toward more order in the studio, there isn't exactly ritual involved, or at least sameness. I was struck by the movement in the poem and the seeming inconsistency of ecstatic dance and order.

Pastel