“An obedient writing, mine is not,
and literature, as any art,
must seek irreverence from the start –“
and there it was I stopped.

The words were grinning on the page,
enticing me to misbehave,
with promises of better art
irreverence would create:

for boundaries set by good artists,
a great one strives to break.

Now: if art is self-expression,
a personal representation,
of this human condition,
that we must all endure

then irreverent art is art made spicy,
off-the-collar, feisty,
a dish diced up and proudly served with
different seasonings than before,

for it’s easier to eat this way
misfortunes of the world.

Regarding subjects that are delicate,
war, famine, and pestilence,
emotions that are tough to chew
and hard to swallow whole — 

within irreverent art
those feelings always have a home.

And these artists are the trailblazers,
courageous and straightforward-gazers,
and the way they push the boundaries –
and in retrospect we’ve found they’ve

all been fearless through the foundry – 
and as a result,

revolutionary!;
sarcasm, wit, or careful planning,
and through their work, ourselves advancing:
society is bettered with
the coloring irreverence brings.

First, for an example,
the enamel that this art does score:
self-expression from the darkness,
a light breaking from the mold:

art for the sake of art does more
when it fought for what it holds.

In the face of bleak adversity
stands Shostakovitch’s Symphony
and the haunting melody exalts
the true idea it reveres: 

a marriage of the regime
to the suffering that was here;

thus a duality appears.
An apprehensive life awaits
the comrade who will not adhere
to his fearful governmental fate;

and for them now he must create
a symphony to premiere.

Yet dignity in hand preserved,
in secret, though, to be sure,
he extends to fellow men
an homage to what they’ve endured,
and the fear they can’t amend 

and within fierce irreverence,
this is the message that he sends:

we’ll fight to resist Leningrad;
we’ll reign triumphant in the end!
Here irreverence laid the groundwork
for humanity to stand.

And if irreverence means to persevere,
as does a flower bloomed through stifling sands,
then on the other grows the quiet vine
of irreverence unplanned:

as self-expression finds a way
in any way it can.

A monk in contemplation sits:
it’s finally done – his manuscript,
the words embossed, the vellum soft,
the light all the gold leaf throws off,

and glory be to God — but first –
a single purr, a shadow stirs,
the ink-pot smashes to the floor,
the monk is rushing through the door;

and trembling hands o’er ruined page,
the paw prints he cannot erase,
had a moment of forgetfulness
irreverence create?

Are accidents, is lapse of mind,
is marginalia that we find,
a disrespect of any kind? It’s true
in prudence first we prove
the human nature shining through.

And there we move, to second now,
for although self-expression’s grand,
to art that pushes out of bounds
(with feet on ground and head in clouds)

to artists whose ideas ran
in opposite the crowd — 

but how? Had painter E. Manet
too deep a scope to fit the stage;
too broad a brush stroke on the page?
“Le Déjeuner”; “The Railway”; “In the Conservatory:”

what’s common to these paintings three?
Why criticisms they received?

No realism did they stir;
impressionism they preferred,
and that’s not to say for sure Manet
couldn’t paint in the vogue of the day –

in contrary: he rejected
the idea realism perfected;

and from perspective of irreverence
gave us a genre that is now respected;
for he himself did even say:

“I paint what I expect to see;
Not what others want there to be.”
(Of irreverence, quite a summary.)

And with these words he pioneered
subjectivity in vision here:
no conditionals, all debonair,
only freedom within art endeared;

and where would be our art today
without that kind of flair?

Finally, in last example,
when the artist feels so inclined,
and this is only but a sample,
of the types of artistry you find

when irreverence is on their mind:

Ireland, 1845,
A famine rages unconfined:
her people fled, her language dead,
her starved neighbor not far behind,

and dark-eyed figures marching on,
their lives to Britain all had gone,

But luckily on her side had,
an artist with irreverent plans,
and published he, 100 years,
before it would be needed there,

but the Modest of Proposals,
Ireland now had food at her disposal:

for Ireland’s troubles might be eased
if they ate children that they didn’t need,
or sold them to aristocracy;
and there was no need to lament:

they were but burdens to their parents — 
the perfect example of irreverence,

of the sense and wit of Mr. Smith
and our literary standards this: with sarcasm
we can now express emotions normally repressed —
concepts we couldn’t fathom;

and ideas rather we forget,
but brought ahead, even in jest,

irreverence, above the rest,
is the vehicle beloved by us,
and society, the beneficiary
of this impressive band of artistry,

is made better with the disregard
a band of rules that only reach so far,
in art we find, for any kind,
a good artist good art assigns –

but if in progress feels inclined –
a great one takes a stand.

Artist’s Statement: Irreverence
Application to Drew University
Accepted with scholarship
2018