To Artists of the Soul

Now that your Instagram feed is back to “normal” and the spots in your eyes are gone… I need your attention. I’ll spend $7000 make sure you understand, so stick with me.

On August 21st, millions of Americans watched the sun disappear. The finest photographers, journalists, scientists, and internet-jokers stepped forward.

Now here is what bothers Pop to the point of picking up the pen today. I’m troubled that as God moved in the heavens, the street poets were mute, songwriters were stoic, and dancers stood motionless looking at the sky… just like the rest of us.

The artists of the soul did nothing, while artists of the mind (the photographers and journalists) did the heavy lifting. Rappers? Painters? Dancers? Singers? Impressionists? Instrumentalists? Where the hell were you?

From the dawn of man it’s been your job to offer us depth and opinion! Today your job is to offer meaning amidst the drivel of the internet! Scare me! Heal me. Make me believe again. Do something to my heart please! I wanted you take me by the hand and make me feel again… but at the eclipse you didn’t.

I’m no poet, but allow Pop a little haiku.

Today I went dark
You wondered ‘where to get shades’
and missed the point- God

Maybe I’m being a bit rash, but then maybe I’m not. Is it too much of a stretch to suggest that God conducts the pattern of the heavens?

Where were you during the 2010 Haiti Earthquake? 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami? 2005 Kashmir Earthquake? 2003 Euro Heat Wave? Hurricane Katrina? Droughts in Africa?

Were you asking the big questions with your art? Where will you be when Hurricane Harvey subsides? Hopefully at a fundraiser. But will you be singing the same old songs?

If you believe in the God that I do, then you might also believe that God is concerned with humankind. You might believe that God warns and that God inspires.

You might believe that he allows floods to flow, lights to be blocked, stars to move, hurricanes to blow, and earth to quake… all to teach us. You might also believe that God moves mountains, parts seas, and calms storms.

If you believe it too, then convince me. Inspire me. *I don’t want to hear another song about your boyfriend.

Your art has prettied it’s facade and lost it’s soul.

Glory Induced Blindness is to observe nature without asking ‘why’.

Please, no more missing the message of a constellation in motion, the promise of a rainbow, and the warning of storm clouds.

To my Artists of the Soul, here are some prompts to help you get your mojo back:

*I’ll refer to a storm, but you can plug in any movement of nature*

Is this storm a warning or pep talk?
When have we seen this before?
*If it’s big, it’s not new (Pop will write more on that later, but for now look at history, study the Bible)

Where did the storm find me?
Where did the storm take me?
Where did the storm leave me?
What is the one clarion message that I took from the eye of the storm?

You might ask me, “But what if I’m wrong? What if it is just a meaningless natural occurrence and I’m making a fool of myself?”

I would answer, “perhaps you’re right on this one.”

But Pop doesn’t believe in coincidences.

– Pop

P.S. – just in case you are still seeing spots, remember it’s quicker to get into an optometrist than and ophthalmologist.

P.P.S.– About the $7000. I’m going to reward it to the artists that can move me. Some young friends helped me make an art contest on Facebook, Click here to enter.