The Christmas heartache,
The rising guilt built by a monumental plinth of doubt,
A pulpit of insecurity stood,
As it should not,
By a church that could not,
A message that is tattered and ruined,
A book that persecuted and buries,
A tiring and destitute yawn,
Stemmed, trimmed, relaxed and worn
That sigh when you remember Grace is Born.
- © Daniel Watts, 2012
Feeling pulled back by a whiplash
Hollow the urges, we have a setback
Tired mourners waiting for a callbackTired mourners, lay together in the dawn
Pushing close upon your sacrum
Cloaking you in the warmth I have to giveWatching aimless at the time
Never mattered, times will fade
As long as memories are madeDon’t feel pulled back by a whiplash
Tired mourners will lay together in the dawn
And I will cloak you once again with all my warmth- © Daniel Watts, 2012
Today as my family ran around in its usual shambles, there came a moment.
A moment where for the first time in years, we sat down, casually, around the lounge room, Bon Iver playing in the background. The setting was calm and the mood pristine…
My sister broke the ice with a question, “What would be the last meal you eat before you died?”… At first this came as bit of a shock, what an unusual question, although the four of us being family quickly shared recognition of the fact that eating would be my sisters last earthly activity. We took turns discussing this for a minute each, dad describing an epic banquet, I felt a local restaurant was sufficient for my last meal, mum asked only for a piece of watermelon, happy with simplicity… and my sister would like Jamie Oliver to cook for her.We came to all sorts of questions, Where would you visit before you died? If you could buy one thing what would it be? and one question that made the room go silent, but that I will keep for myself…
The last question asked was the most trivial, and easy question to answer for my sister and my mum… “If you could change any one thing that has happened this year, what would it be?” My sister quickly blurted out her answer just as soon as she’d asked the question “Daniels leg!, I wish he hadnt of broken his bloody leg!!”
My mum quickly agreed, Dad came up with some random answer related to car troubles, but he also agreed. See when they looked to me for my response, I thought for a minute and then said “breaking my leg is the one thing I would not change. It has been the biggest growing point of my life thus far, every experience…” and its true from the hospital trips and surgeries, the clinics and the rehabilitation, however prolonged by last years ailments, its now part of my life. This has been for me, my “Getting of Wisdom” as Christopher McCandless put it in his journal as he ventured Into the Wild… Me, I did not have to venture anywhere, my journey has been the very opposite…
This has been my Getting of Wisdom, my Growing in Faith, my Path to Enlightenment and the Start of New Days…
Thanks for reading friend. :)
There is nothing more peculiar, nor anything more innacurate, than the human tendency to assume.
People assume anything and everything about anyone and everyone. It is inevitable, yet undesirable, and can often lead us into awkward situations.
Too many times have I assumed something of a person, utilizing only the visual details I have been given. Fallen into a social drought due to a lack of relationship with my peers, rather living an abundance of insecurity and delusion through insociable assumptions.
It should be noted however, that visual contact does allow a little more leeway for assumption. One can learn many aspects of a person through simple observations. As humans we have a tendency to be particularly predictable, even the unpredictable can be relied upon to be so.
Through our various mannerisms, a simple gesture of the hand during a morning chat, or a raised eyebrow whilst concentrating on a conversation, can reveal crucial details of ones persona.
Is it really so dreadful to make a quick estimate of a persons origins and psychological fibre via one single glance? Perhaps you would say no, perhaps you would say yes….the truth is throughout reading this you would of made several assumptions, not only about me Im sure.
My assumption now, should be noted, that this will be read by few, and appreciated by less, but to those inquisitive minority who have read to the very end, thankyou.
This blog’s purpose is to be different from my primary blog, “En The End” or danielcook.tumblr.com
Here I will focus on posting only my own works, reblogging occassionally sources of inspiration, aswell as correspondence with my followers,
It is this blog that I will share my photography, my artworks and my personal letters, stories and snippets from my life, please feel free to follow, this is
THE ARTIST WITHOUT - danielcookexhibition.tumblr.com.
- Daniel
St Stephens Cemetry, Newtown
The overwhelming green foliage made this image irresistible to capture, although I had to be clever hiding all the locals visiting the cemetry behind the tombstones, as its a popular gathering place for teens.
The Painters Ladder.
Shot on the streets of Sydney during a trip with mum, the man was painting a mural of the Rocks area under a tunnel, his ladder casting a long shadow, I had to capture this in Black and White.
The Lonely Tree.
Beckoning Eyes.
Beach Sculpture.
http://danielcookexhibition.tumblr.com/
This artwork is something unplanned, I just turned up to Hill 60 Beach in Wollongong, saw three random bits of very large drift wood and chucked them together for a photo. I wanted to present what foreground could do to a photo and what something as simple as drift wood can do to an image when placed in an unusual way.
