The Rare Beauty & Genuine Inspiration of Hawaii

Shaman by Arman Manookian

"His was the dream of creating in color a great symphony of beauty." writes Arthur Greene, in a eulogy for Arman Manookian, who committed suicide at 31, renowned as the Van Gogh of Hawaiian art

Another contemporary artist from Calgary, inspired by Hawaii, Shane Haltman, featured my comment on a recent blog post where he writes, "I can honestly say that my dreams brought me to this place and thanks to some serendipity and a beautiful community made up of some loving individuals, I am here living my dream...The current is strong here, the energy always present, and this makes for an artists dream." from Engraved memories

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The narrow birch forest is consuming at dusk. Spindly cerebral mycelium tangle upwards in a drowning lonesome tank of damp musk and potent swampland, the decomposition is palpable. Rain is on the mind of the sky as the deep gray clouds swarm above with unreasonable drear. As I notice a hobbling duck push into the delicate, unmoving waters, an enormous hawk, silent from its treetop perch, readies to assail. In one deft sweep, massive talons emerge from the underbelly of the raptorial bird, eyeing to snatch its unusual prey. The duck, a female, is raised into the unforgiving sky, its feathers soaked with blood on its side as it surrenders to the predation, paralyzed. Fear evaporates with the humid environment as a cyclical rendering of atmospheric hosts. 

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Birds

"To see a wounded bird, is fateful of deep sorrow caused by erring offspring. To see flying birds, is a sign of prosperity to the dreamer. All disagreeable environments will vanish before the wave of prospective good...Carl Jung said that birds represent thoughts while birds in flight symbolize moving and changing thoughts. Birds are generally associated with freedom and abandon. In old dream interpretation books birds are considered lucky omens..." (iDream)

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an imaginary depth, dropping my body into death's dream
through naturally engraved aquatic pores,

a doorway into the underworld,
final

...

profoundly empty, yet potent and with sure steps,
a foundation, on which to Love, between the speechless universe,
a mold, created and destroyed, balanced and perfected,
known through a dissemination flown to the ten thousand directions by an anonymous author,
spontaneous mastery, always falling,
multitudes' sinking vessels,
round the last leg,
towards a pathless sojourning,
rare & genuine

- excerpt from "rare & genuine"