ENLIGHTENMENT AT LUNCHTIME

I was having lunch at Jacmel Inn
At my usual sturdy table
At my usual stoic chair
With my usual iced tea with honey
When Camellia appeared as if in a dream
For there she was in luscious pink
So beautiful she brightens my gloomy day


And it was then that I remembered
The lesson I learned from a master
I first met at NOMA
A lesson on art, life, and love

John Clemmer is the master
Painting is his game
And I first met him quite by accident
When I entered his exhibit on the second floor
Not from the entrance
But from where the exhibit was ending

I fell in love with his paintings, that was certain
His amazing Trios,
His enchanting scenery,
His haunting flowers
That I came back
Beginning at the entrance, this time

My heart was already pounding
When I peeked at the room
That hanged John Clemmer's bouquets of flowers
And as I walked towards them
My head spun with the movements of the colors
Yellow trying to reach the heaven
Pink coyly hiding
Blue running from side to side
Red playfully waving
Green singing with the wind
And white, white in the background
Firmly holding, grasping, embracing
The magical world
Created only for them

And that was when I came closer
So close I wanted to touch and be touched
By these moving colors
If only to be with them
If only to play with these living colors
That they may brighten my colorless world

Just then I started to isolate
Each and every single color
Each one in its little pixel
Each one in its own little world

And at that moment
An enlightened idea came to me
Why or how, I don't know
But truth be told
No matter how brilliant is the painting
It is only made of paint
No matter how brilliant is the poem
It is only made of words

The genius
Is in putting
The right amount
Of the right paint
At the right place
Flawlessly

The genius
Is in putting
The perfect word
In the perfect line
Of the perfect verse
To elicit the right emotion
Correctly

With or without Camellia

The older couple at a nearby table
Were already having their second glasses of red wine
When the ever-so-friendly waitress
Brought me the almond crusted tilapia
On top of the yellow fancy rice
With green string beans on the side
Red paraphernalia peppered the outskirts of the plate

I used one of the silver forks
To slice a small piece of tilapia,
To pick up some yellow rice and yellow bell pepper,
And to stab a stalk of the green string beans

It was not long before I realized
That I was taking the almond out of the tilapia
That I was separating the onion from the yellow fancy rice
And whatever it was I had to take
Out of the sauteed string beans

It was then that I realized
That I was breaking down everything
Down to its basic decomposition
And that was when I stopped eating
For I could no longer stand analyzing
The especially-prepared gourmet dish
And for the life of me, I could not remember
The last time I enjoyed a meal
Just because I enjoyed eating the meal

I have broken down paintings and poems
I have simplified the emotions
I have clarified the presentations
Until I saw all the flaws
Until I understood the artistry
Until I heard the artist's voice
Thunderously loud yet unheard by many
Still clearly, clearly was singing to me

And Camellia smiled at me
Because she knew
I have done the same
To all my past relationships

Except that not once did I see the artistry
Only the flaws
Only the flaws