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MOONDANCE
Henry Moore said “To be an artist is to believe in life.” When I began sketching Moondance there were two quotes I wrote on my paper, one was the above by Moore and the other was by J.M. Barrie, which reads: “The reason birds can fly and we can't is simply because they have perfect faith, for to have faith is to have wings.” If you know my poetry or have had conversations with me, you know I am obsessed with winged creatures. The idea of wings conjures up the ‘enchanted’ world, the 'dreamland’ where imagination blends with reality. This is the world I have come to love since I was a child, blending real world with magic. As humans we long to defy gravity. We carry in our hearts an ancient longing to have wings, to be able to soar like the birds we watch in an open sky, the near perfect metaphor for freedom. The part about faith in the quote by J.M Barrie is profound and meaningful. Whenever I begin to sketch for a sculpture, I am mostly trying to find my faith and my conviction. I am trying to find wings to take me into another world and discover a three-dimensional form of my vision. The idea of balancing emotions and love with another human can be a bit of a see saw. The alternating up-and-down or backward-and-forward movement and always trying keep the relationship equitable is impossible without wings. The wings of humans may be invisible to the naked eye but if we look intuitively, we can catch a glimpse of feathers and pinion. Humans are equipped with wings of equilibrium. This counterbalance device is always correcting the paradoxical experiences of love’s gravity and levity. Moondance is a visual definition of the shared human experience of being in love, while it liberates us from earthly constraints it also anchors us to the profound aspects of our being. This is ‘Moondance’, forged from fire _ a visual poem. MOONDANCE / TABLE TOP BRONZE 32"x13'x 24"/ EDITION of 18 For Carl ___ because your love inspires me to dream. art © Gesso Cocteau Because the idea of 'MOONDANCE' came to me in a dream of the Moon and Bella _
Rose Thorn
You said: “It's all deeper water. even the prevalent shallows.” Your words landed soft upon my skin and slit their way into my heart, even my clenched fist let go and for a moment I dreamt I was floating upon the intangible. I have had so many lives always living on the edge between chance and a meticulous scenario. But mostly I find myself within the cavern of this sensual life, asking myself. what am I without this? You are living in my head right now, and the bird nestled right outside my window sings a song I cannot decode. You told me a secret and I have planted it deep into my garden between the roses and the thorns. © Gesso Cocteau
Secrets Between Our Shadows and Our Souls
Secrets Between Our Shadows and Our Souls Surrounded by myself and the tall summer’s grass I lie still ____ and alone listening to the songs of the earth. I am crawling through the underbrush of what use to be us ____ and even though you are gone the flowers remain. I wanted more, I always want more my appetite exceeds my frame and I spill out into the visible world. You knew I was insatiable you tried to temper me you were honest and kind and as your friend said ‘you were always ‘present’ ____ but I was afraid, and when you asked me what I believed in I turned away. ( I believe ‘we have played along side millions of lovers’) Perhaps we were, in some past life mythological lovers ____ I think sometimes we ask too much of one another. ____ and so what if love dies over and over again. (age after age the words of the poet fall from the past into the future, an eternal song of desire fueled by the ‘perfect moment’. For now _____ my heart sings to the poppies as they cast their shadows upon my spine ____ I call out to you____ you see me in this dream: I ask you to return my heart to my body so that I might feel again. (God it is so humbling to be alive and sometimes I am so afraid my heart will break into a thousand pieces.) In this fragmented dream you whisper to me ____ through the fields and the forest kissing my rough hands: ____the hands made strong by bronze, by pencil and by ink. (My body stretches out to reach you extended into this landscape ____ forever.) Is all of this life a magical illusion? When my eyes are closed I feel you making love to me but then ____ the memories shift and I am moving slowly in my garden envisioning human suffering trying to remember your touch. Maybe it is the poetry that saves me, ____ or perhaps the sun, this field, the forest or the moon. For now I allow myself to feel the beauty of pain ____ to speak truth and to taste the flowers that seep into my veins. I still love you you made me feel alive ____ and the lord of darkness reminded me that nothing can hurt me if I let go of everything that gives me pleasure. You gave me breath honesty and love but I am not certain of spellbound hearts and everything is so temporary ____ We are all in movement on our way to the unknown. (Love is the ‘why’ of life.) I lost you, now I love another ____ the one who gives fire to my soul, but still I crawl through the fields at night beneath the goddess of love and silently I crave you. These are the secrets between our shadows and our souls. © Gesso Cocteau
STRANDED HEARTS
SOON TO BE RELEASED - STRANDED HEARTS An Anthology of Love Poetry Written by Gesso Cocteau Illustrated by Pete Berg "Now I understand the secret of redemption, I will never forget you. We are forever stranded hearts _____."