Beneath Your Feet

There are certain themes and perspectives which I am constantly attempting to express in my poems and songs, one of which is the importance of people to embrace production methods which aren't detrimental to the environment and fragile ecosystems. In these "environmental" songs and poems I have utilized the traditional contrasting imagery of reverence for nature and the natural world with the exploitation and degradation of nature as a mere industrial resource. Here is a specific song I wrote entitled "Beneath Your Feet" about the spiritual aftermath of the rampant destruction of the ecosystems caused by deforestation, pollution, and military conflict.

I set my eyes on
The emerald flame as
It rises
It rises
Centering my focus
To balance my visions
Flashes of destiny
Stretching wider my eyelids

Step onto the holy ground
Feel the Earth shift beneath your feet
Then open your mind
Let the spectacle move you
Existence is the miracle
Your thoughts are evidence
Your emotions are evident
That this whole experience is special
No matter what the skeptics say
No matter what the fanatics say
Life is sacred, the soul is eternal, balance is everything

So, keep one eye to the sky and the other before your feet
Watch each step carefully
Move with the caution of a newborn into this new world
Of endless possibilities

This ancient orb keeps rotating in space
We've made it our home
Yet the ravages of war and industry
Soon shall lay waste to the mystery
Killing all that's irreplaceable
Putting an end to dreams
Wait for it
Watch the sky grow dark as the sun burns brighter
The oceans rise and ground begins to quake
Beneath your feet
Beneath your feet
Mother Nature is enraged
Gaea gnashes her teeth

Clouds descend upon us
The stars have lost their shine
The factories keep whirring
The cogs keep turning
The machine keeps rolling along
Flattening the hilltops
Crushing the bones of innocents
Death above and below
Trees mark the passage
Follow the trail of the slain to your home

Yet some still say
What is the relevance
Of a few plants and creatures
Destroyed in the name of progress
But I can't help but
Wonder where is their reverence
For the world that created us
The same world that we oppress

I set my eyes on
The emerald flame as
It rises
It rises
Centering my focus
To balance my visions
Flashes of destiny
Stretching wider my eyelids

Step onto the holy ground
Feel the Earth shift beneath your feet
Then open your mind
Let the spectacle move you
Existence is the miracle
Your thoughts are evidence
Your emotions are evident
That this whole experience is special
No matter what the skeptics say
No matter what the fanatics say
Life is sacred, the soul is eternal, balance is everything

I tend to think very visually when I am in a creative mentality. Yet very often the images that I envision are of a heightened nature, very vivid, and also surreal, and because of this, they cannot be captured through the use of photography. Since I am incapable of adequately (or skillfully) replicating my initial ideas in a visual medium like painting or sketching, I tend to rely on the artworks of others to instill or at least suggest the kind of images that were in my mind as I write. Here are some of those artworks:

"The Fate of the Animals" by Franz Marc (1913)



"The Love Embrace of the Universe, the Earth (Mexico), Diego, Me, and Senor Xolotl" by Frida Kahlo (1949)



"Silence" by Gail Potocki (2001)

My Favorite Artists and Their Art: Odilon Redon

Odilon Redon's artwork is extraordinarily unique and hard to describe. Whether working in colorful pastels or stark charcoal drawings, the images he created are remarkably vivid and dreamlike. Shifting in styles and genres from Post-Impressionism to Symbolism, his art is saturated with an emotional intensity that seems almost prophetic of future art movements such as Expressionism and Surrealism, yet he doesn't seem to belong to any single movement. Rather, Redon's skill was transcending the boundaries of what had come before and exploring what was yet to come, all the while journeying inward to a place of psychological conflict and spiritual awakening.

The Smiling Spider (1881)

The Crying Spider (1881)

The Spirit of the Forest (1880)

The Buddha (1904)

The Flame (1896)

The Raven (1882)

Guardian Spirit of the Waters (1878)

Flower Clouds (1903)

Stained Glass Window (1908)

Portrait of Mademoiselle Jeane Roberte de Domecy (1905)

The Cyclops (1914)

Cactus Man (1881)

My Favorite Artists and Their Art: William-Adolphe Bouguereau

William-Adolphe Bouguereau is perhaps one of the great heroes of the Academic art movement. His works are vividly brought to life in a manner that is at once realistic and yet also idealized. While Bouguereau confined himself to the traditional Victorian values of Academicism and Realism, the images that he managed to create during his lifetime are iconic and timeless, though he has not been treated as kindly as his contemporaries by many art historians. Often drawing on themes of gentle eroticism, the juxtaposition of beautiful women with nature, and the bittersweet reminisces of childhood, Bougeureau painted in a way that could be emotionally evocative in its realistic depiction of everyday life, but also dreamily intoxicating in the way that he romanticized human sexuality and sexual innocence.

The Return of Spring (1886)

The Birth of Venus (1879)

Bather (1870)

The Invasion (1893)

Evening Mood (1882)

Biblis (1884)

The Wave (1896)

Nymphs and a Satyr (1873)

Cupidon (1891)

Dawn (1881)

L'amour et Psyché, Enfants (1890)

The Bohemian (1890)

My Favorite Artists and Their Art: M.C. Escher

M.C. Escher is one of those artists who is impossible to categorize. His works don't possess the typically inherent emotions of most art movements. His art is far more procedural, intellectual, and precise in its purpose. Many of his works are woodcuts done entirely in black and white, yet his works are as complex and unforgettable as those of artists who pour the full spectrum of colors onto their canvases with paint. What Escher does is present viewers with works of art that are at once restrained in their expression of emotions, but at the same time are provocative and mentally stimulating. One could half-jokingly say that looking at an M.C. Escher print is like doing mathematical gymnastics with your eyes and brain.

The Eye (1946)

Drawing Hands (1948)

Relativity (1953)

Hand with Reflecting Sphere (1935)

Snakes (1969)

Waterfall (1961)

Paradise (1921)

The Castle in the Air (1928)

The Fall of Man (1927)

Bond of Union (1956)

My Favorite Artists and Their Art: Arthur Rackham

From my own perspective Arthur Rackham remains the greatest artist from The Golden Age of Illustration which lasted from the 1880s up until around WWII. Rackham first rose to prominence with his strangely compelling illustrated works that featured all of the various elements of the greatest myths, fables, and fairy tales. The artwork that he produced contained all of the whimsy, romance, adventure, and grotesquerie that was found in their accompanying narratives. Rackham's images became so ingrained in the minds of many children that his illustrations almost defined the essence of fantasy and legend for generations. Personally, I've always found his unique combination of innocent beauty with eeriness and often tragedy to be emotionally moving. I can't think of any other artist in the world of illustration who managed to so evocatively retell the stories of the past with such imagination and believability.

Soon She Was Lost to Sight in the Danube (1909, from Undine)


Freya (1909, from The Rhinegold & the Valkyrie)


The Third Time She Wore the Star-Dress which Sparkled with Every Step (1917, from Little Brother and Little Sister and Other Tales by the Brothers Grimm)


At This the Whole Pack Rose Up into the Air, and Came Flying Down Upon Her (1907, from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland)


It Seemed as if a Sudden Swarm of Winged Creatures Brushed Past Her (1922, from A Wonder Book)


Thor (1910, from The Rhinegold & the Valkyrie)


The Waiting Maid Sprang Down and Maid Maleen Followed (1917, from Little Brother and Little Sister and Other Tales by the Brothers Grimm)


Brünnhilde (1910, from The Rhinegold & the Valkyrie)


Brünnhilde Kisses the Ring (1911 from Siegfried & The Twilight of the Gods)


Marjorie and Margaret (1912, from Arthur Rackham's Book of Pictures)


How Sir Launcelot Fought a Fiendly Dragon (1917, from The Romance of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table)


Titania Lying Asleep (1908, from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream)


When the Storm Threatened to Burst on Their Heads (1909, from Undine)


And Now They Never Meet in Grove or Green, By Fountain Clear or Spangled Starlight Sheen, But They Do Square (1908, from Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream)


The Magic Cup (1908, from Arthur Rackham's Book of Pictures)


Where Is Pease-Blossom? (1907, from Tales from Shakespeare)