To a sleeping goddess (New Poem)

"To a sleeping goddess"
by Tim Kavi

sweet whispers
of lullaby
from the sea

always bring rest
in the angel's sigh
when I look
I see you sleeping!

your wings
rest by your side
and your smile
shows me
that even in dreams
you dwell
in heavenly places

when awake
your words
are always kind
and even
in your sleeping
you show
compassionate mind

you are the beautiful
one
though your culture
teaches you to deny
still there
is a devotional cry

uttered from my lips
felt from my heart
a song
a song that will not die

so sweet
stardust
in the night
the kindness adorns you
like the sheets
around you
that births you
and keeps you
warm tonight

for in the warmth
then of each other
two souls
know
it is no wonder

that your smile
is brighter
than the starry night.

Love's Eternal Recluse (New Poem)

"Love's Eternal Recluse"
by Tim Kavi

when I removed Her Veil
the goddess
was sneering at me
and when she spoke

she snarled
instead of healing me
she pulled my wounds apart
laughed at my tears
and spat at my age

why had she stood still for this?
to torture me
and mock me?

She is the woman I hoped for
the one that eludes
the goddess I seek
she has left me
ten thousand times

she says
I just want to be a friend
but she throws no crumbs
when I am hungry
for her company
I find myself alone
and that is just one day

tomorrow in loneliness
and seeking
is another
You say I Think enough

but I seek Her face
as David sought God's face
I seek the goddess
yet she is hidden
in the rocks
behind the curtain
in the Holy of Holies

Her apparel is fine

but she is
as God always hides
from the unrighteous

I am ready to mend my ways
I will be faithful to only Her
but she does not hear my song
or my worship

or my turning back

she is strong
and loved by another
even as if herself
she does not see the pain
that is coming

she remains uncovered
and hidden
while she masturbates on her bed!

this is the Goddess who dances
seductively and then lies
that she was not!

The goddess I approach in love
and adoration
who says go away
this is the Goddess
I have been seeking

but she would not
so now I have given up

the weariness
of the journey is too much
for me

now it seems
I have become
love's eternal recluse.

note: all mystics and lovers understand this, the time that all we seek has seemed to be hidden from us.--T.K.

Artist John Stuart Berger by Tim Kavi (Article)

Tim Kavi has had an online article published at:

http://soulfulpen.com/Imagine/?page_id=216

Title:  John Stuart Berger 
by Tim Kavi

Publication:  Imagine Magazine (Art Magazine); July 2009

This is an article on John Stuart Berger, an artist from the Sacramento California area.

Update:  The link above no longer works (as of 2013), so I have reproduced the article below in its entirety.  (I do retain authorial copyright).  Hope you enjoy it! ~~TK

John Stuart Berger

By Tim Kavi

Sacramento artist John Stuart Berger has no problem taking his inspiration from a plethora of creatures that fly, swim, or crawl, as he puts it.  Berger, who as a youngster caught the creatures and played in the woods near the house where he grew up started drawing them at an early age.     Far from being a budding entomologist or aspiring bird lover like other kids interested in creepy crawlies or feathered friends, Berger grew up to become an artist with a delightful and creative yen for the creatures that he observed and  studied. 

By growing up in the rural area of Danville, Berger had plenty of opportunities to reflect on the creatures as he played near the creek, and studied Audubon-like Field Guides for inspiration.  This inspiration has led him to draw and sketch the creatures, and after developing a basic drawing, he would play with them, exaggerating their features, or changing their characteristics. (This was on paper and not as a genetic engineer).   Although the result of this process seems at times to take on an animated quality, or a cartoon quality, Berger says that the Field Handbooks and old Biology textbooks have been more of an influence on his style, than the slight exposure he had to comic books as a kid.  Berger has called this process of drawing additional features as ‘mutating’ them.   Once this happens, Berger took his creative process a step further, where he found that his art could not only mutate the creatures but morph them into different colors and new kinds of emotional lives.

By deconstructing and reshaping them as newly morphed beings that delight young and old, fascinate the curious, and overall, brings great interest among onlookers, Berger has given us alternative creatures that inspire and fascinate us and reminds us that the forces of Natural Selection could have come up with something entirely different if they only had the shaping skills that Berger has.

Berger's artistic vision certainly depicts the new creatures in a manner that adds emotional life, color, and plenty of room for mutated identities in interesting habitats that delights the imagination.  If only evolution were concerned with aesthetics and meaning rather that bare survival.  How much more interesting creatures could be, and Berger’s work certainly reminds us of that.  Gone are the dull blacks, and grays, and other shades that Natural Selection has selected for in the past, and added are much brighter colors that would surely make such creatures much more interesting in the natural world amongst landscapes of colorful habitat.  One wonders how they might avoid predators, but perhaps in their new worlds they are avoiding them.  Or at least, in Berger’s scheme, the new creatures have not gone unprotected, for they have acquired teeth and a bite that their ancestors might never have dreamed of!

Painting in a style that some might call pop surrealistic, and others have certainly seen as surrealism, Berger’s work has been featured at a number of shows as an up and coming artist.  Berger has done his work mostly in acrylics, but has done interesting work in ceramics, and some of his other paintings feature shapes and human figures rather than the creatures morphed and mutated from his youth.  John Stuart Berger is certainly an interesting talent, well worth the attention he gets, and even more so, his original and innovative work should be considered an interesting object of acquisition among serious art collectors.  

Artist: John Stuart Berger

http://www.johnstuartberger.com/
http://www.johnstuartberger.com/about/

About the author:  Tim Kavi is a poet from Portland, Oregon. Kavi’s first collection will be published shortly by Tilu Press.  “Emerging Goddess” is a collection of poetry that many see as love poems, others see as poetry that worships the sacred goddess in her many forms, and others say describes a longing for connection and dialogue with strong existential themes.  You can see some of his poetry at: http://www.timkavi.blogspot.com .

John Stuart Berger, Artist 

Down From the Mountain (New Poem)

"Down From the Mountain"
by Tim Kavi

coming down from the mountain
I stumbled to keep up
with the goddess
in her flowing robes
and ways of walking
in the air

Her divinity
there was no reaching to
and in the temple
she was the Holy One
who walked through walls

laughing in sweet joy
telling me to keep up with her
then by the Altar of Incense
she taught me her scerets

and only then
could she love me there

I said:

inspired by your love
your loving eyes
will always make me
sing and
lie next to your heart

your smile is
like the mountains
eternal and strong

She said:

you were all I needed
through all this time
I will be thankful
for you everyday

I said:

I who could not breath
one time long ago
now breathes fresh air
like the snow
that melts
and merges
with the seas

while our love
flows to the seas
your river
carries it
from our bed
by the altar

to the ocean
when your song
of released passion
warmed the mountainous
nights

I am held there
always
in your great arms
resting until
tomorrow

when I am well
alive and will see

when we will
run with the horses

in the land
where all sentient beings
long to be

in the bountiful land
of the truly free!

Flowing milk and honey
amongst the cedar trees
I walked with you across
the grassy meadow

into the plains
into the valleys

and found You
knew You
loved You
in a sweet discovery
that You are everywhere.