1997 A time to remember what is really important and do something about it

1997

A time to remember what is really important and do something about it

with pictures and words by

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Sumishta

“A form lives to the extent to which it does not withdraw from expression.

And we decidedly cannot conceal human expression in the drama of our time.”

- Germaine Richier

LION PRESS

© 2016 by Sumishta Brahm All rights reserved -2-

Forward BETWEEN NOW AND THEN AND ME I FOUND OUT I HAD HYPERTHYROID, WROTE ‘IT’S NOT RAINING RAIN’ AND ‘I AM A WAVE’ ON GUITAR AND OF COURSE, DREW IN MY BOOK. THIS ONE, COMPILED OF TWO BOOKS CREATED IN 1997 AND ARRANGED IN THE SAME ORDER THEY WERE DRAWN. IT’S A KIND OF ILLUSTRATED DIARY. THE CHARACTERS ARE REAL INSOFAR AS THEY ARE FILLED WITH REAL EMOTIONS, QUESTIONS AND SOMETIMES ANSWERS. THEY ARE GOOD FRIENDS AND DEAR ONES AND HAVE NEVER LET ME DOWN. (MAY THEY DO THE SAME FOR YOU).

THEY ARE, IN SHORT, GIFTS AND LESSONS. THE ROUGH WITH THE SMOOTH. THEY ARE WHO WE ALL ARE.

january 18th 1997 -3-

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So... how tall do YOU think it is?

Hmmmmmm.....?

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WHERE’D YOU GO?

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She presses up against him, leans backwards and laughs youthfully.

He, on the other hand, mumbles, manlike and tries to keep from smiling.

She is youth without grace.

I am graced without youth.

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I’m all by myself

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Are you coming or going?

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I am standing at the edge of the world looking at the flight of birds.

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He was thinking of himself thinking of himself thinking of thinking...

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I am waiting, I am waiting, I am waiting...

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The one who falls apart, who reaches out for an earth which has long since become liquid, is incoherent and exhausted. (please forgive) - 31 -

Frank was double-jointed ALL OVER!! (unfortunately, it wasn’tmagic...)

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Cloakroom Man “You played ‘Snow White’ in ‘Snow White and the 7 Dwarves’, didn’t you?” He asked me with a grin.

I grinned back, grabbed my coat and got out of there as fast as I could...

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“Excuse me, excuse me,” He interrupted, pointing at the last drawing in my book before this.

“You...picture?” he asked, smiling broadly.

He waited for my answer.

I said, “Me? Artist?

Why...yes!”

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The man at the ticket booth looked at me and smiling said, “Smile again.”

I did and he exclaimed, “Is that you? Is that really you?”

“Of course it is, who else would it be?”

I replied.

We carried on a little while longer; the smiling conversation, wished eachother well and parted.

Now, as I write all this down that brief moment in time seems Just a little more meaningful.

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WALKING TARGETS

“I’m telling you, they’re just walking around waiting for something awful to happen....”

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MUST I BE A LION TO SHOW MY TEETH AND ROAR?

What have we come to?

The parts that make the whole - yin and yang?

Old male and old female fighting inside, mirroring the hurt and pain fitting together perfectly.

Distance, lack of love and attention; everything is glass and I am transparent.

It’s a thunderbolt that seemingly comes from nowhere and goes back to that place once the damage

is done.

So here are my

claws and voice

to match...

...ROAR!

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When I get like this: who’s to say how wrong I was for feeling the way I do - who’s to say I had nothing to worry about? Who?

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I thought you said, “wear a disguise”...

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BOOK 2 OF 1997 15TH JULY

YO-YOVILLE I bought a yo-yo and played with it awhile (to make me smile) to make my world turn again.

For a day passes once but a smile can last a lifetime...

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“I am the ghost of fallen stars past...�

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One day, to Orville’s horror, he found an extra toe growing on his left foot!

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Waking up to zero

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The Inheritance

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“I know I can tell you this because we’re friends: You’ve gained A LOT of weight!”

“Uh...

I...I...

I know...”

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THE BALANCE Make it right get the even balance of the scales tilt-free.

Now that WOULD be magic!

But for now, it’s a wait and see and wait to be tilt-free and unharmed experience.

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The weight that isn’t Mine. Except it is...

The tablets will make you better

the fact that you’ve gained fourteen pounds and a third of

(it is claimed), will stop

your hair is lost down the drain, doesn’t mean much to the

those crazy diamond feelings -

professional prescribers

now isn’t THAT nice?

in your life. And never mind that you can’t fit

Be grateful the shaking

comfortably into any of your clothes. You had all this

has stopped too -

attention for free!!! So, here’s the deal; you get sent back

how can you even think

down the rollercoaster screaming your head off and maybe

of complaining at

you’ll normalize and maybe you won’t.

such glowing results?

It’s a 50-50 deal.

Show some appreciation...

a hormonal dance, like the

Ah, but now comes the rollercoaster ride - the struggle to

marathon contestants in the days of the depression -

the top was the easy part and upon arrival to that peak,

a dance til you drop dear - dance.

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In order to piece this thing together (the good, the bad) we’ve got to grab the horns by the bull!

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“We think much less than what we know. We know much less than what we love. We love much less than what there is. And to this precise extent, we are much less than what we are.�

- R.D. Laing - 71 -

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Winter is nearing but loath to show it’s sullen and grey face.

The sun stretches through thick fists of clouds through the whispering leaves that resist falling off their beloved branches.

The wind will have it’s way in the end but for now, we bask in the light of this glorious day!

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GOING HOME They are pulled forward Into a seamless onslaught of squeaks and strains and pulsating wheels sounding off like my blood magnified a million times through a loudspeaker.

Here we wait our turn on this metal monster that creaks and grinds to a halt long enough to swallow us whole again.

And then, if we are lucky, we arrive, step off lightly, dissolve onto the pavement and remember home.

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H H-HU UL U H UH MY SO S BLES

He kisses my hand and swears I’m ELVIS’ DAUGHTER! TOM, as camp as can be, kisses my hand again, I - me giggle coyly...

(ELVIS’ DAUGHTER, indeed!)

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“Don’t I know you?” said one.

“You seem familiar,” said the other.

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Camel wasn’t behaving quite right, thought Wild Horse but this IS a strange time of the year so perhaps he is only hiding...

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LION PRESS © 2015 by Sumishta Brahm All rights reserved - 94 -