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)