As I sat, contemplating the name “Lobotomy by Sneezing” for a new band name, after a particularly impressive expulsion of particulate, Hernandez is sitting across from me at the kitchen table, imagining out loud–in verse–“IMPRESSIONISTS! THE MUSICAL!”
A few minutes after I announce to Facebook that THIS was a THING, his comment pops up on my thread:
“You need more art lessons
to make more than impressions!”
the cri-tics say.
But I’d burn every canvas
if I painted their lame-ass
re-DUC-tive way!
They’ve studied art hist’ry
and think they know how to see
the whole of reality:
they announce, “Iife is Tromp l’ouie!”
and poo-poo creativity!
But friends, they’re not right
about the nature of light.
They’ve com-PLETE-ly missed
that the eye must arrange
from our eyes to our brains
like Impressionists!
The eye, dot by dot,
gives importance to what
we can see or cannot;
And thus it’s our lot
to perceive in gestalt!
So to our fine critics,
whose ideas, like emetics,
make OUR gorge rise,
we say keep your traps shut
and do shut the fuck up
till you DON’T spout lies.
But now open your eyes
to the wondrous surprise
of the pigments and dyes
that your retina descries
in the world, color-wise!
Yes, let us be all color-wise.
Yes, let us be all color-wise!”
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, CARLOS HERNANDEZ, DOCTOR DOCTORPANTS, PROFESSIONAL PROFESSOR, AUTHOR OF THE ASSIMILATED CUBAN’S GUIDE TO QUANTUM SANTERIA, AND THE NEXT BIG THING ON BROADWAY!
C.S.E. Cooney 