I’d Be

Creamy~soft

Smooth and light

Aromatic
Electric
Night

I remember
Not a word

So if again
You’d not have heard

For tongues are better
Not spoken words

But articulating
Whisper’s
Token

Gifts of feeling
And of touch
Simple, close
And gentle motion

Bright
And amorously
Not much

That’s more exciting
Than anything else

Yes, quiet

CA

© Copyright Carl Atteniese II / All Rights Reserved, Creative Commons License

About Art

Dear Viewer:

Art historian H. Gombrich said “there is no art; only artists.’ Artists, whatever they and their work are, owe nothing to any person, group, dogma, philosophy, religion, or political movement. Art is innocent-unless it is used as propaganda in manipulation of people for maligned purposes. However, Art-like religion, industry, and physical, & verbal behavior… must be displayed and utilized responsibly to guard against its being misinterpreted by the immature, the primitive, and the violent-for the safety of society and the compassionate and responsible raising of children.

Art should never be censored, as it is the product of the human mind; the greatest accomplishment in sentience we have evidence of in the known universe. As such it is a window into an individual and his experience; a group and its experience, or maybe that of a culture. Seeing into an entity’s experience-into peoples’ experiences is the only way to understand them, and thus the only way for anyone or any group to accomplish reconciliation. Understanding one another is the only way to see the world of beings, to love, to avoid violent conflict.

Art is self-expression applied soulfully through a mastered-or practiced (or in the least, artful) craft. It expresses human emotion, intelligence, ingenuity, and observations. Therefore, Art is testament to humanity and being human (a concept I further developed in talks with Amber Park). Art encompasses artful living, all the recognized “art forms”,and the technological and creative fields of science-such as engineering and architecture.And most importantly, art encompasses love.

Some of what you see here at CarlAtteniese may not seem to be art to you (indeed, some of my work is sketching from the unconscious), but another way of looking at art is how an acquaintence named Joshua-a dancer and choreographer-described it to me:

‘Art is the asking of questions not focused on specific answers.’

I would add that art is not solely journalistic, which means it is meant to be more than something in a personal diary; it is meant to be seen. To some, Art may be art only after it is viewed, meaning it is not art until perceived in the mind of a viewer. In this vein, Amber Park says ‘art is for the observer.’

Please look at my art. Try, if you would be so kind, to feel what you might think I felt when I made it, or…don’t. Observe your feelings when looking at it.

I present my art with heartfelt apologies to the victims of war, execution, and global climate change, and with apologies to the memory of Masters Hokusai Katsushika and Hiroshige Ando; former President George W. Bush, George Herbert Walker Bush, and to my father, to whom along with my mother, I dedicate my work.

Many thanks to my mom and dad, Robert M. Diefendorf, Lois Diefendorf (RIP), Amber Park, Christopher Barbaria, Gary Kim, Louis Trentidue, Adam Hoffman, Mike Stewart, Michael Kozzloff, Andrew Gerndt, Sardi Klein, Patti Bellantoni, Leigh Benkhi, Marshall Arisman, and Bing Lee.

With Love, Peace, Joy, and Imagination,

Carl Atteniese Jr.

Bright

I met a special someone
in a gallery
in Insa dong
in 2008

It was winter
but not too cold
yet I was frozen-finished
with Korea

Disappointing relationships
Continuing “cultural abrasion”
Just an all-around exhaustion
With a sort of ubiquitous sameness
Telling me “leave”

I’d sworn off dating there
Then I met “Bright”

She was girlish
womanly
bold
attractive
youthful
mature
engaging

Wise
Child-like
Sometimes child-ish, but playfully
She was afraid
Fearsome when angry, yet beautiful too, such that I wanted to kiss her at the same time I wanted to balk at her stubbornness

Old, in her conservatism–yet security-inspiring
Immature in her wonderful naivete
Evasive

A Celebration
And a Lament
Yet I am enthralled
For the dissatisfaction around one is always
from
within one;
which one

Solve it, as I have
and see the beauty in all things
most especially
Your muse

Lest you die
in one

CA

© Copyright 2021 Carl Atteniese II / All rights reserved.

“Left-Overs” in Love

The writer asked me why he was feeling he was receiving less than he felt he deserved from his girlfriend. They have “been through a lot”, he’d said, and he had even lost acceptance in his religious sect for supporting this girl. They are still together, and she is very busy–in addition to all this–and he wonders about how to view her apparent neglect. This is what I told him:

1. Meditate to find peace and truth;

Dear MI,

Hi there, New Friend,

Please pray AND meditate before talking to your girlfriend, again. The two are vastly different, though you can do them –sort of at the same time, if you wish.

Meditating means sitting and breathing and not petitioning anyone, like God. It means calming yourself, and only breathing; stilling the mind, not thinking, worrying, connecting thought to thought, and getting lost in fantasy (If you need more help with how to meditate, look at my intro page). When we meditate, we open ourselves, our minds, our “spirits”, our creativity, memory, and intelligence. Answers come, and memories, visions, and realizations may appear. Do that until you are entirely peaceful. And before that, if you wish, you could pray and ask God to make it a good experience, revealing truths to you.

I could ask you to do that and then write me, which would be better, but you probably want a solution-oriented answer now, so here goes:

Everything you are assuming is a product of your imagination. I have a lot of experience with this as a human being, first of all–because we all do it, and as a hypoglycemic, second of all. This disease, when not managed, makes a person hyper focused when the blood sugar is low, and creates a hyper-imagination, sort of.

Now, My Friend…

No matter how much you may think something is the case, until you have the facts–and even then–it is largely your perceptions and imagination which tell you what has happened and what is happening. The truth is ALWAYS between us, never in only one mind.

Your girlfriend is a very busy person, and assumes–most likely–that you “are there for her” and so she takes you for granted at least to the normal degree, meaning she thinks you love her and will continue to do so, so she focusses on school, her job, her religious practice and her family more, right now. Unless there is another issue, you feel like you are getting “left-overs” because you ARE–and if she really loves you, proven by her presence in the relationship–you might feel flattered by this if you want to. As long as there is not another reason for it (disappointment in you for some reason; real or imagined, personal issues she hasn’t revealed, etc.), she loves you and shows that by feeling you would want her to only focus on you when she can, not more than her responsibilities allow. Do you see? You are like a foundation to her, hopefully, which she “knows and expects” to be there, whilst she is busy.

I suggest you to do four things;
2. Appreciate her in your life and balance your needs from her with her abilities;
3. After doing 1 &2, find time to do something loving for this busy woman you are likely lucky to have in your life;
4. After doing 1, 2, & 3, then, gently and totally listen to her about what is going on in her life and heart, before explaining your concern.

You may get the answer to your question.

As far as being co-dependent I do not know. I do not know enough about your relationship. It seems like she is not suffering that, but I don’t know about you.

Focus on making your life better, and making her comfortable. These are two key parts of what we must do to make our lovers happy.

Let me know what you think.

Peace, Love, Joy, and Imagination,

Carl Atteniese II