What Is Art? Poem by Levi Oracion

When we think of art
We immediately associate it to beauty
The harmony of shape and form
The coordination of hues,
And of shadow and light.
But of late, our senses are suddenly
Bombarded by dissonances, jarring forms
As well as riots of colors painfully
Coalescing with one another.
The great artist, Picasso, has ruled famously
That “Art is a lie that confronts us with truth.! ”
But methinks that the reverse of it is equally true:
That “Art is an expression of truth,
That confronts us with our lies.”

On a deeper level art comes about
In the struggle of truth to overcome falsehood,
As the artist absorbs the ugliness and evil
Of man’s pursuit of power and profit
And reveals the truth and beauty of things
That has been horrendously distorted
In our dogged efforts to rule
Things over anything that threatens
To rule over us, and the result is oft
A dynamic portrayal of the proud yet vain
Human ego that seeks to control things
But only succeeds in making a fool of itself,
Thus enabling the surging forth
Of the dynamics and form of truth.

I see the cross and the resurrection of Jesus
As God’s greatest art work as He portrays
The systemic and massive rebellion
Mounted by man’s pride and greed
Against divinity exemplified dramatically
By great villains such as Nero, Rasputin,
Hitler, Stalin, and their ilk,
Giving us both heroic deeds, divine like dreams,
Even as they cast tens of millions of human beings
Into hellish existence. Yet, silently, majestically and massively
God works incognito within the vastness of reality
Luring entities to evolve to higher forms of being,

But the divine invitation can be entertained only
By beings capable of thought and gifted with freedom
Such freedom so radical to allow them to dare
Dislodge divinity itself from the warp and woof of things
Thus causing a drama played in our individual psyches
Like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde, Nero, Hitler and Resputin
Even as they tortured and exterminated souls that dare
Rise to respond to the divine call, for God has poured out
Himself without reservation in flooding His creation
With His love, justice, truth and mercy so perfectly
Exemplified in Jesus of Nazareth,
Who spoke the truth with crystal clarity
Embodied it in total solidarity
With the nothing of this world,
Taking up their cause of justice and truth
Against the citadels of crown and creed
And marched on resolutely against the powers that be
With love in his heart and truth in his cause
Weapons that are not recognized on this terrestrial plane
And his death becomes a sacrifice- -the truth of his love,
That exposes our sin of deicide which shock of recognition
Brings us to the portals of grace, justice and love.

Levi V. Oracion
June 10,2015