"Artists Are Thieves"

 

Artists are thieves, 
   walking in a Dream State.
Their knowledge of the neighborhood 
   is sketchy . . .  

Sometimes they enter a house 
   that belongs to someone else
   and feel completely at home. 
Other times, they're at home 
   and they feel like they're 
   visitors. 

Often, they cannot tell 
   whether they're
      creating,
      stealing,   
      elaborating,
      re-fashioning,
      paying homage,  
      borrowing,
      pioneering. . .

They steal from themselves, 
   while assuming that it is 
   someone else's.
After a while, 
   they cannot tell whose work
   is theirs and whose is not.

This Dream State is really 
   The Big River, 
   for that is what it feels like to be in it. 
It is not tied to a physical plane, 
   but omnidirectional and translucent.

When ideas get sent out through
   The Big River, 
Artists can pick them up at their choosing, 
   it is up to them. 

So,
   true theft rarely occurs, 
   more like accidents 
   than crimes,
   that disperse
   in The Dream State.  

 

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©2018, Michael Smolens