Chris Baker
“Bazaar”
I've always been fascinated with the "theater of the surreal"; my first gut reaction to art as a young boy was to Salvador Dalí. The idea for Bazaar came to me after watching "Smoke Signals," the film adaptation of an excellent Sherman Alexie novel—namely, that of our memories, emotions, secrets, and so forth being on display; for sale, perhaps, in an Old World trade-and-barter market. A great deal of that influence comes from the fact that each of us, as we come into adulthood, must define and reconcile who we thought our parents were with who they actually are as human beings. To understand others, especially those who may have caused you great pain, is to develop greater compassion for them, for yourself, and in turn for the world at large. I wrote three pieces out of that single moment. Since then, I've realized that good poets and writers, just as Stephen King is fond of saying, are conduits. We are the vessel, the pipeline through which beauty may flow. Our only calling, our conviction, our vocation, then, is to record and shape what we're given.
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- - - Temenos Spring 2017: Coyote Dreams "Bazaar," page 5 |
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