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We have lost the imagination for what our real lives have been or continue to be, what happens when we go home and close the door on the outside world. Since so many would like us to never mention anything unsettling anyway, the impulse to be quiet, the impulse to deny and pretend, becomes very strong. But the artist knows all about that impulse. The artist knows that it must be resisted. Art is not meant to be polite, secret, coded, or timid. Art is the sphere in which that impulse to hide and lie is the most dangerous. In art, transgression is holy, revelation a sacrament, and pursuing one’s personal truth the only sure validation.
Dorothy Allison
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Invention … does not consist in creating out of void but out of chaos.
Mary Shelley
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I suppose it was in me … I became almost crazy to make something like the thing which fascinated me.
Edmonia Lewis
Submit Your Art and Writing to WAVES
“The Unraveling, I” by Karen Sides
In sum, this work is about: doing the work of unraveling deeply scarred emotions; facing our inner world with honesty, love, compassion, and strength.
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Turn around
and you’ll be grown up
already.
I spun upon myself
turning, spinning
laughing. Proving her wrong.
Wishing
slow time would
spin as quickly
as I had spun
tight circle around myself.
My mother
is dead now
Her words return
turn and turn
faster and faster
and I am old
already.
I never could
master time’s speed.
“Don’t Rush” by Gail Nyoka
“My Left Ear” by Stacy Lynn
I write and I paint to understand myself and the world, to observe, to feel, to breathe, to acknowledge the shadows and see all the light. I write and I paint to be clear-eyed and whole-hearted. I write and I paint to be whole.
To have skin cancer and undergo plastic surgery to repair the damage to my left ear was traumatic, but to paint my experience was my power to face my fears, make my peace, and find humor, grace, and gratitude.
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The Q: How does dissonance inhabit your creative being?
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I planted a weeping willow and named her Elena.
In her soil,
I buried my anger and shame.
In her leaves,
I whispered all my hopes,
Dreams, and secrets.
In her shade,
I prayed for our forgiveness.
“Elena” by Beverly Hermosillo
I define my creative identity in the following way: Through my poetry, I channel the turmoil and heartbreak I’ve faced, transforming it into narratives of resilience and empowerment. My writing is a reflection of my identity, a testament to survival, and a celebration of the power to heal and thrive.
I come from a small sanctuary
under a fallen tree on the irrigation ditch
where I came to see every person
under a tree is drinking shade
every person is water
feeding a tree
“I Could Say I Come From” by Elizabeth Cohen
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“Offering of the Ocean Winds” by Nadia Dabul
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