THE THREAD | Stop Taking Pictures

Stop Taking Pictures

My daughter is telling me this
Driving home from gymnastics.
Stop taking pictures of me
All of the time.
Mom does it, you do it,
Trying to capture the moment
All of the time.
She tells me this two weeks
Before her eighth birthday.
She tells me, Don’t you know
pictures makes you forget?
Don’t you know it means
You remember the picture
Instead of the memory?
She is telling me these things
As I try to change subjects
To the full moon in front of us.
Look at that, I tell her,
I want to remember this moon.
Don’t take a picture of it, she says.
You won’t remember it the same.
She is telling me this and saying,
What if instead of taking pictures
We got everyone in the city
Agreeing all at once
To turn off our lights
And gather in a field.
Artists can paint the blue sky blue,
And the grownups can just relax,
And it would all be so peaceful
Looking up at the full moon.
She is telling me these things.
My child is telling me this.
I do not take a picture.
Unless, of course, this counts.
I do not know if this counts.
I no longer remember
How to remember.
She is telling me this.

Given the tectonic shift in our country this week, why art? Given the severity and uncertainty of what lies ahead, why poetry? When there is so much work to be done, when the well-being of our kith and kin rely on action, can we say with straight faces that art and poetry are action enough? What is the next right action? What is enough?

These are questions I wrestle with, not only this week, but often. Maybe there are no ultimate answers. Only gestures and offerings. Contemplation and conversation. Next right actions. Art. Living.

Want to come have coffee with me this weekend?

As I shared a few weeks ago, I’m the news editor of Forum, an ad-free bimonthly magazine focused on art and culture in the Kansas City region. Our first issue will come out this December, but the magazine actually has a long history. It was published by the Kansas City Artists Coalition from 1975 to 2001. One of the reasons I’m excited to step into this new role is that I get to be part of bringing something back to life at this particular time in our city’s life and culture.

This Saturday at 11:00 a.m. I’ll be giving a talk as part of the Artist Coalition’s monthly Coffee Talk series. Please join me to learn about Forum and to share ideas about how this small magazine might move our city and region toward better art, better thinking, and better cultural discourse—now more than ever.

Hope to see you there.