confusion | William Eaton: Surviving the Twenty-First Century

The inspiration for this piece? See Farah Nayeri’s November 18, 2019, New York Times piece: Is It Time Gauguin Got Canceled?

For those wishing to read the text of the poem without all the colors intervening . . . here ’tis:

On Gauguin being chased from museums
for being a savage person and having
said and done savage things
Let those sans sin, one might reply,
Yet what’s so special about our times
(Though, at least in this, not special – sigh)
Is how many now loudly cry
(And not just great sisters and mothers) –
We’re not savage like those others!
Who we shun or, better, expose
Those humans painting too unclothed!
And saying, doing, quite savage things.
While we, the pure, accusations sling!

Also,

The French editorial cartoonist Xavier Gorce has, in his own way, weighed in on this subject:

(A personal favorite because of its oddly repetitive, experimental approach.)

The list has ten items, plus some variations. Below are a few:

1. How could I have known this is what you wanted—because you never mentioned it?

2. The role of imagination in sensation may be underestimated. The highly sensitive may add imagination to sensation and thus perceive things, present and not present, that others cannot.

3. People express their desires reasonably clearly, but often they will not hear what their words are saying. If you respond to what has been expressed, it may seem to be you who is confused.

5. Suppose you continued to listen carefully to what people were saying, and in particular to the desires they expressed, but you responded as if they had said the opposite. Would you live in greater harmony?

Photo of Cypripedium acaule (Pink ladies slipper) is by Thomas G. Barnes, University of Tennessee Herbarium.

William Eaton: Surviving the Twenty-First Century

Tag Archives: confusion

On Gauguin being chased from museums for being a savage person and having said and done savage things

The inspiration for this piece? See Farah Nayeri’s November 18, 2019, New York Times piece: Is It Time Gauguin Got Canceled?

For those wishing to read the text of the poem without all the colors intervening . . . here ’tis:

Also,

Sample from “Zeroing In”