Collage

There's meaning in collage, but it's all jumbled –
A running forward and looking back,
A turning upside down like something mumbled,
Then folding it frustrated by its lack –

Of systematic themes and subject matter,
Of clarity of figure and of ground,
Of break from cyclic nature which I'd rather
Be walking out when e'er I look around.

There is the stimulation of the jumble,
As pictures evoke feelings deep within;
But words, as well, are whirling like a rumble
Which distorts picture matter just like sin.

Five pictures and five slogans were the limit,
But words divide up more than pictures do;
So end result – five picture-panels in it,
Thus words take bigger place than pictures do.

I see in photos more each time I visit –
The Honeydew is really just a lid;
A ‘Tip’ jar frees the merchant from a limit;
The mask the man wears can be quickly rid;

The pills in toilet can be start or finish,
Depending on a person's point of view;
A walk across the mossy log – I'm in it;
There's menace in companion’s legging too.

I guess for me my “booklet” is a symbol
Of how my life has been, will be, and is;
Some pictures placed there first and quite a’kimble;
Words plastered here and there – a jumbled biz.

For normally I've worked the other sequence –
First poetry, then pictures illustrate;
But in our task she said paste photo reference,
Then choose some words to greater meaning make.

I wonder if the photos will pull meaning
Like incidents that flood across my mind;
And words for me (though left brain often seeming)
Evoke a pictured world – another kind.

For why do words attract far more than pictures,
Evoke much stronger feelings from in me,
And dominate collage with greater mixture,
Yet by themselves, no longer I can see?

Just words alone don't pull the feelings from me;
Or pictures by themselves, on wall or book;
A word like “To ” has power to propel me
To turn the page and have another look.

But simply ‘words’ shuts down my thinking process;
It shifts me over to my left brain side;
Evoking school-time terrors – missing recess,
And wishing I could ‘leave the room’, or hide.

Yet flow between the pages is a factor –
Connections from the past to present days
Which link along to future's gloom or rapture,
In jumbled disconnected flowing ways.

There is a sense of time within the booklet,
(A flow of life impeded by the form);
From here-and-now, with past, and future outlet;
With certainty with abstract mixed as norm.

The truth revealed? A few unusual suspects?
Last stand right here, or later in the bush?
Are pills in toilet symbols of the rejects?
Is change just plastic being chewed to mush?

Is little boy who sells defying parents?
Or has his parent set him up to fail?
Is dinosaur-ic thinker just apparent?
While really he's just thinking, ‘Where's the mail?’

There are no dirty cups from bygone buyers;
And cut of paper looks like father’s sleeve;
So what's in picture – is the kid a liar?
Or is his father saying, “Just believe”?

The jungle trail shows no clear destination;
The toilet bowl no water 'neath its rim;
The kid is bald and shows great concentration;
The merchant-boy – a grimace or a grin?

The change implied looks major, but it's minor,
For lemonade brings little in as cash;
The books behind the monster may be finer,
But he's looking like he must spring up and dash.

Today a change – tomorrow's for your selling;
In five years time, confusion puzzles more;
The long-term prospects – back on top, truth telling;
Suspecting, standing last, is ’bout the score.

Is that what is the real hidden meaning?
A start and end, with middle's flowing whirl?
Survival in the jungle, last one leaving?
With all the rest pain killers in the swirl?

Is action just consuming fruit or plastic?
And business, making cash as best you can?
With grown-up life a phony stressful racket?
So truth revealed – ‘in bush will be last stand’?

When turned, the photos hold their pictured meaning,
But words require a turning in our brain;
Except the words which on their sides are leaning –
They do their task, their affect just the same.

So, in the booklet where's the hidden meaning
From right side to the left of hidden store?
I made it without thinking, just from feeling –
Not sure if in it just how much there's more.

I think I have to let it sit, and wonder
About what other truth can be revealed.
Unusual its subjects, torn asunder –
A Revelation booklet with its seal.

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