Truth is the bedrock on which to build
Beauty is the shape of artful stone
Love is the roof of shimmering gild
Freedom is the choice to make a home
Creative Commons 2005
Thursday, 9 July 2009
#23: Poem - T*B*L*F
Wednesday, 8 July 2009
Tuesday, 7 July 2009
#21: Poem: I Wish
I wish ...
For lazy days in cluttered bookstores
For meandering walks in shaded parks
For swirling dances in the soaking rain
For intimate cuddles in the dark night
For whispered sighs of deep contentment
For echoed cries of passion unrestrained
For bubbling children never far away
For idle excursions to the shopping mall
For travel adventures in distant lands
For magical hours of poetry reading
For quenching delight in fresh writing
For lingering encounters with enigmatic art
For gentle floating on music's breeze
For reflected drama on theatre stages
For great movies with popcorn and coke
For butterfly kisses in unexpected places
For warm hugs for no reason whatsoever
For holding hands in silent understanding
For roaming talks without destinations
For playful experiments with illusions
For soul journeys to unseen worlds
For growing old through the seasons
For slowing down as the years go by
For being happily in love for ever after
... with you
Creative Commons 2005
Monday, 6 July 2009
#20: Prose - The Art of Business
Business is, by its very nature, an adventure in creativity, an exercise in imagination, an enterprise in innovation.
If you think about it, commerce is all about creation – creation of markets, companies, products, brands and jobs – as well as finding inventive ways to target, design, position, package and sell these.
Even before ‘entrepreneurship’ entered the business lexicon, successful enterprise has always been the nexus where invention meets opportunity, innovation meets needs and resourcefulness meets markets.
So it is somewhat surprising to reflect on how little business has drawn on that paragon of creativity – the arts – to challenge, inspire, inform and project itself.
By contrast, the arts themselves have never shied away from using business as the inspiration for their creative endeavours.
So what happens when we open the Pandora’s Box of artistic perspectives on business?
Can we piece together a mosaic of creative visions on commerce?
Or join up the dots of imagination on trade?
By using the arts – including painting, film, theatre, literature, cartoons and poetry – we get to see business’s public persona reflected (including its shadow self).
We are able to illustrate, through the medium of the arts, how business is perceived in different parts of the world and at different times in history, including up to the present day.
So where might we start looking for images of business-in-the-looking-glass?
Would it be movies like Wall Street (“greed is good!”) or The Corporation (“the pathological pursuit of profit and power”)?
Or perhaps the poetry of former Fortune 500 executive James Autry (author of “Love & Profit”) or the literary genius of Shakespeare (“all that glitters is not gold”)?
Would we question why so many business leaders take inspiration from Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War” or Machiavelli’s “The Prince”?
And would we be amused or infuriated by the doctored logos of multinationals or spoof corporate websites that fall foul of anti-globalisation protesters?
Is there “many a truth in jest” to be found in the “fat-cat” businessman caricatures that go back centuries, or the cartoon vitriol of Enron’s jailed executives?
Do these artistic commentaries give us a window into the soul of business, or simply a superficial view of its popular mask?
Whichever way you see it, these highly visual, evocative and stimulating illustrations all have something to say about the role of business in society, especially its contribution to (or violation of) the public good.
All the current debates around environmental responsibility in the face of climate change and ecological destruction, or trade justice in the context of persistent poverty for the majority of the world’s population, are brought into sharp, colourful focus by the arts.
And the picture they conjure is not always negative.
The creativity of the arts has often been used in business to encourage innovation, motivation and responsibility, whether it is the use of industrial theatre for AIDS awareness in
And after all, what can be more creative than the advertising industry itself?
The power of using the arts as a lens through which to view business is that we get an insight into the psyche of the modern corporation.
We tap into the mood of the public and their often unspoken fears and prejudices about business.
And we also begin to see business for what it really is – a deeply human enterprise, with all the foibles and potential which that implies.
Hence, the art of business is, if anything, the art of being human:
An eternal stage for playing out so many of our most familiar dilemmas –
The struggle between head and heart, between ambition and morality, ego and altruism, self-fulfilment and service to others.
And the art, as opposed to the science or economics, of business, is to find beauty, truth, and yes, even love, in the creative process that is enterprise.
#19: Quote - Answers
Searching for answers in life presumes that we even know the questions
Creative Commons 1992
Thursday, 2 July 2009
#18: Poem: I Am An African
I am an African
Not because I was born there
But because my heart beats with
I am an African
Not because my skin is black
But because my mind is engaged by
I am an African
Not because I live on its soil
But because my soul is at home in
When
My cheeks are stained with tears
When
My head is bowed in respect
When
My hands are joined in prayer
When
My feet are alive with dancing
I am an African
For her blue skies take my breath away
And my hope for the future is bright
I am an African
For her people greet me as family
And teach me the meaning of community
I am an African
For her wildness quenches my spirit
And brings me closer to the source of life
When the music of
My blood pulses to its rhythm
And I become the essence of sound
When the colours of
My senses drink in its rainbow
And I become the palette of nature
When the stories of
My feet walk in its pathways
And I become the footprints of history
I am an African
Because she is the cradle of our birth
And nurtures an ancient wisdom
I am an African
Because she lives in the world’s shadow
And bursts with a radiant luminosity
I am an African
Because she is the land of tomorrow
And I recognise her gifts as sacred
Creative Commons 2007
On Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uh0KVOaf3k
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
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