Visionary Vibes: A Blog by Aberjhani

Conversations with the World 111: Speaking Truth to Power and Ourselves (pt. 2 of 2)

11/2/2022

"Land of the Misinformed Dreamers" art by Aberjhani C2022.)

“…I believe that democracy is a political enactment of a spiritual idea. The sacred worth of all human beings, the notion that we all have within us, a spark of the divine, to participate in the shaping of our own destiny.”
––U.S. Senator Raphael Warnock (maiden floor speech March 17, 2021)

The practice among some “leaders,” in recent years and months, of intentionally spreading disinformation to achieve political or military objectives has been all but normalized. The absence of ethicality in such a tactic is ignored. One example within the United States has become a constant source of material for late-night comics: it is the power which former U.S. president Donald Trump continues to wield over election deniers despite numerous documented reasons he should not.

[You can read part 1 of this conversation by clicking right here]

Late-night comics like Jimmy Kimmel, Trevor Noah, and Steve Colbert do a great job providing humorous relief from the stressful knowledge of very real threats represented by extremist followers of Mr. Trump. On the other hand, the televised findings of the January 6th Committee emphasize repeatedly how little there is to laugh about when examining in-depth evidence which suggests Trump played a more active role in the so-called attempted insurrection against the American government than most Americans wish to believe. Moreover, as evidenced by the recent attack on Paul Pelosi, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, the desire among election deniers to inflict physical violence upon Trump’s political opponents has not diminished.

Are the comedians and January 6 committee members directing their spoken truths more at Donald Trump’s personal powers of political persuasion? Or that of the American people’s collective ability to protect democratic values? Results from mid-term elections in the U.S., up to this point at the beginning of November, have been mixed enough to indicate many are listening but reaching different conclusions concerning what they hear.

Speaking Truth to Your Individual Power

Individual considerations concerning one’s own power, depending on the solitary soul in question, can result in a range of consequences. Some conclude that without substantial wealth, social influence, or political office: power is something they do not possess. As such, they avoid attempting to speak truth to those who clearly do wield some manner of authoritative might and readily follow questionable leaders without offering much input of their own. When George Benson and Whitney Houston sang their respective versions of Linda Creed’s and Michael Massers song, The Greatest, they may have summed up what many consider their only claim to notable strength: “No matter what they take from me/ they can’t take away my dignity.”

At the far opposite end are: those so convinced of their own capabilities they revel in notions of rulership and control which not only place them above all others, but above any governing laws or regulations. Most of us find ourselves somewhere in the middle of these two extremes––an absolute lack of power or the sole commander of it–– attempting to balance the implications of both. That means those who believe they do not possess any significant measures of power nevertheless encounter situations where they are required to exercise the same. And those who believe they are “all powerful” discover the pain of disillusionment revealing them to be as susceptible to defeats or disciplinary actions as anyone else.

When ordinary American citizens, however, found their lives upended by Infowars host Alex Jones prolonged promotion of the conspiracy theory claiming the 2012 Sandy Hooks massacre was a hoax, they were forced to fight back. Already dealing with the grief of losing loved ones to America’s epidemic of gun violence, reliving the agony in a court room battle against orchestrated guerrilla decontextualization was likely the last thing they ever anticipated. Their painful truth leveraged against the substantial power of Jones’ influence resulted in multiple verdicts, in Texas and Connecticut, totaling just over $1 billion.

Are there any who can afford to ignore their individual ability to make a difference for the better: in such days as when Earth’s mightiest rivers are drying up due to human-driven climate change? When war on different continents destroys entire communities on a daily basis? And when the powerful prey with impunity upon the vulnerabilities and ignorance of those weakened by hunger and despair? Speaking truth to your own power first requires acknowledgement that it exists. Then comes reflections on what it means to exercise it in specific ways––or fail to employ it at all––just when it is needed the most.

Aberjhani
Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
Co-author of Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance

CATCH UP ON MORE CONVERSATIONS WITH THE WORLD

Conversations 111 Part 1: Speaking Truth to Power

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Art and Words Make an Exceptional Kind of History

8/22/2022

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(Official Postered Chromatic Poetics for Aberjhani’s Bright Skylark Literary Productions ©2022 with copy of 2022 Flannery O’Connor Review ant detail from “Closer to Where You Are.” Art on cover of FLOCR titled “Sermon in the Valley of Broken Angels” by Aberjhani.)

Regular readers of this blog may recall I previously stated my non-fiction book, Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind, was only one part of a planned trilogy of creative works to address the layered complexities which make up the corpus of O’Connor’s celebrated writings. Major second and third parts of the trilogy, in the form of visual art and poetry, have just been published in the 2022 Flannery O’Connor Review (FLOCR, Vol. 20).

The review, edited by Marshall Bruce Gentry, is published by Georgia College in Milledgeville, Georgia (USA), where O’Connor lived and wrote most of her adult life. This new volume represents a double milestone for the publication which, as seen on the front cover, commemorates 20th and 50th anniversaries.

To purchase the 2022 review please click here.

The event is a particularly significant one for me not only because it delivers on the pledge to produce an unusual form of commentary on an iconic author’s writings and cultural influence. It also marks the first time my visual art has been on the cover of a major academic journal and a substantial selection of my images featured inside the publication. In addition, my poem History and Prophets’ Prerogatives, which until now has only been available in very limited broadside and art poster editions, has made its international debut in the same pages.

Story behind the Artwork

Combining visual art with literary expression has long been one of my favorite strategies for communicating different important, and sometimes controversial, concepts. Whether dealing with environmental justice, online privacy issues, critical race theory, or anything else, the approach has often yielded positive results. Although I’ve utilized it effectively enough in several of my own books––most notably ELEMENTAL, the Power of Illuminated Love and Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah--the thought I might be able to do so in an educational journal such as FLOCR never crossed my mind.

It likely would not have occurred if I hadn’t accepted an invitation from editor Gentry to attend the Flannery O’Connor and Families Symposium while the COVID-19 pandemic was still going strong in June 2021. Attendance at the symposium, as it turned out, inspired several of the images included in the current review. Others were works in progress which I intended to either add to O’Connor-themed art already completed, or reserve for a future exhibit.

At this point, the art in the journal is not accessible for viewing anywhere else but plans are underway to make one or two of the images available as prints and in other formats in my online art store. (Anyone wishing to let me know which artwork they might like to see become available for purchase as a print is invited to contact me via the form at the end of this article.)

In Good Literary Company

In addition to my own contributions, the 2022 FLOCR includes important discussions by diverse scholars addressing various aspects O’Connor’s work and legacy. Among them are the following:

“Intention, Piety, and Mode in Flannery O’Connor” by Clarke Owens
“‘Deep in the Stacks’: An Interview with Nancy Davis Bray” by Nancy Davis Bray and Megan Savage
“Nuns at Luncheon in a Hayloft: O’Connor’s Debt to Aldous Huxley in ‘Good Country People’” by Bryan Abel Ragen
“Justifying Excessive Virtue: Daredevil Charity and Crime Noir in Flannery O’Connor’s ‘The Comforts of Home’” by Nathan M. Kilpatrick
“Jacques Maritain and Flannery O’Connor: The Life and Death of a Child” by Fernanda Rossini
“Wondering and Wandering: An Interview with Louise Florencourt on Her Life and Her Family” by Louise Florencourt and Robert Donahoo
“Review of Justin Mellette’s Peculiar Whiteness: Racial Anxiety and Poor Whites in Southern Literature, 1900-1965” by Laura L. Behling
“Review of Sandra E. Godwin and Helen Matthew Lewis’s A White Liberal College President in the Jim Crow South: Guy Herbert Wells and the YWCA at Georgia
State College for Women, 1934-1953” by Virginia Wray
“Review of Ann McCutchan’s The Life She Wished to Live: A Biography of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Author of The Yearling” by Marshall Bruce Gentry.

The annual publication of the Flannery O’Connor Review is a major literary event to which general O’Connor readers and academic instructors look forward every year. Its articles and book reviews are important influences on dialogues concerning the author’s noted value in educational and religious institutions around the world. They also go a long way toward interpretations of her expressed attitudes, often described as ambiguous or ambivalent, toward African Americans. Such studied reflections have become increasingly important as Americans continue to evaluate past cultural trends and practices while navigating major changes in their country’s demographic composition.

By Aberjhani

For more on Flannery O’Connor please check out the following:

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National Poetry Month 2022: Taking Flight on Wings of Early Morning Light

4/2/2022

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The late Luther E. Vann (Dec 2, 1937–April 6, 2016) and I worked as hard as we did to complete ELEMENTAL, The Power of Illuminated Love, because we hoped the end results would help inspire people to employ healing creative vision, rather than destructive violence, to resolve various forms of conflict. I’ve thought about that a lot since the beginning of Russia’s war in Ukraine. I thought about it further after seeing beloved actor Will Smith’s now forever-infamous assault upon comedian Chris Rock during the live broadcast of the 2022 Academy Awards. (Will Smith since then has reportedly resigned from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.)

The poem below, “Wings of Early Morning Light,” was published in ELEMENTAL and I am posting it at this time for several reasons. One is to celebrate National Poetry Month 2022. Another is to commemorate the sixth anniversary of Luther’s death. It is also to continue the Poems for Ukraine series begun with Angel of War and the Year 2022. And, finally, the fourth is to reaffirm at a time when the world can use such reaffirmations, ELEMENTAL’s major themes: creative problem-solving respectful of life as innately sacred, mindfulness strengthened by compassion, and coexistence anchored by the power of illuminated love.

The first public announcement that the late artist Luther E. Vann and author Aberjhani had begun working on ELEMENTAL, The Power of Illuminated Love, appeared in the former weekly Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) Newspaper called The Georgia Guardian on June 25, 1993.

Wings of Early Morning Light

Gliding above the ruins of the world’s broken soul
destruction and mutation speak in parables of the
ignoble history that dragged us here, and glittery
prophecies promising kingdoms and glories to come.

A man traveling on wings of early morning light
(this man, that man, the man that a woman is)
suddenly captivated by a group of children gathered
around a fire. Away from this circle an infant
pinned to an oak tree, knives and daggers crucifying
every possibility it managed to bring to this world.

“We’ve learned,” said an elder child,
“to rid ourselves of life before it can hurt us
too bad. That way we hurry up to the next existence
where beauty hopefully will join us.”

“But do you pray before you act? Or have you
taken barbarism for your imam and your prophet?”

“Prayer is a chasm of delusion for the hopeless.
Wouldn’t you agree our good wise brother?”

“No, I would not little brother.”

A volley of blades and arrows cripple his flight.
The man traveling on wings of early morning light
gathers into his soul visions of exultant sorrow
and sorrowful joy. From his spirit blood drops
like petals of night and bright crimson rapture.

The rocks below split like ancient wombs opening
to the language of an unwritten history, to the
lights and music of a city we’ve yet to create.
Six billion people shout one new soul into the universe.
Dawn opens the sky like prayers from a god just waking up.
(from ELEMENTAL, The Power of Illuminated Love)

Aberjhani
Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
and Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind
Creator of Original Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

More from Aberjhani on National Poetry Month and War in Ukraine
Holiday Letter for a Poet Gone to War Poem with Video
Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Angel of Peace 2022
Ukraine, Russia, and the Art of Being Human
Angel of War and the Year 2022
Voices of Poets on War and Peace

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Marking a Savannah Milestone

1/13/2022

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Editors at Time Magazine in July 2021 reached the same conclusion as editors of the Literary Savannah travel anthology in 1998. They decided the city of Savannah, Georgia (USA) was one of the “world’s greatest places” and listed it alongside such frequently-visited locales as: Cannes, France; Seattle, Washington; Arouca, Portugal; KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa; Nuuk, Greenland; and North Goa, India.

Among the distinctions noted by Time Magazine for placing Savannah on its list of “100 extraordinary destinations to explore” was its impressive revitalized riverfront. Hill Street Press, 24 years ago as of 2022, included the city on its roster of “Travel Literature” titles following the phenomenal success of author John Berendt’s “nonfiction novel,” Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil.

Surviving to Tell Our Stories

With my poem “Return to Savannah” concluding the volume, I was one of eight living writers (out of thirty-seven total and not counting editor Patrick Allen) included in the Literary Savannah travel anthology published by Hill Street Press in 1998 (and by Trinity University Press in 2011). Of the other authors living at the time, James Alan McPherson and I were the only ones actually born in the city. (Long-time resident, and Savannah State University professor, Ja A. Jahannes, 1942-2015, was a native of Baltimore, Maryland).

As of this writing, I am one of four of the anthology’s remaining living authors and the only native. The others are John Berendt, Rosemary Daniell, and Ben Greer. Publication of the compilation is something I celebrated in Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah, and, an event I commemorate now because too many noteworthy literary voices become targets of historical erasure prompted by commercial indifference or literary genocide.

A Cultural Arts Milestone

The publication of Literary Savannah represented a major cultural arts milestone because it was the first to showcase a comprehensive diverse selection of living and historic authors associated with the city. As writer Lynn Hamilton put it:

“…What will attract buyers to Literary Savannah will probably be the rich collection of stories and bon mots by the cream of Savannah’s local and living (kicking and screaming) literati. The wry, slightly wicked, Tom Coffey is not omitted from these pages... poet and story teller Aberjhani is a presence with his contribution… Though there’s little subversion present in the pages of Literary Savannah, Ja A. Jahannes does provide a surprisingly pointed comment on the exploitation and subsequent historical revisionism of the Yamacraw Indians which is not just good protest, but also beautiful and powerful poetry.” (Savannah Creative Loafing, Vol 5, No. 40, Dec 29, 1998)

Just like the city itself, now 24 years after the book was first published, Literary Savannah continues to demonstrate why so many still find America’s 13th colony such an exciting and intriguing travel destination.

Aberjhani
Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
& Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind
Creator of Authentic Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

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Conversations with the World 108: Ben Okri’s Existential Call to Creative Arms

12/1/2021

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In his November 12, 2021, essay for England’s The Guardian newspaper, Booker Prize-winning author Ben Oki urged creative artists around the globe to dedicate their inspired labors to the production of works addressing the catastrophic crises of the current era. In his words:

“I propose existential creativity, to serve the unavoidable truth of our times, and a visionary existentialism, to serve the future that we must bring about from the brink of our environmental catastrophe.”

It just so happens that many creative artists already advocate not only for environmental justice, but also for economic justice, gender equality, and antiracism. That Okri declined in his op-ed/essay to comment on the last in this year when the verdict for the trial of the death of George Floyd made headlines around the world, and the trial for the killing of Ahmaud Arbery was moving toward a similar outcome, is a little baffling. After all, ending death by racism and xenophobia is no less a global crisis than preventing mass destruction from human-induced climate change. Neither, for that matter, is a coronavirus capable of masking itself and attacking our species in different mutated guises: such as Delta and Omicron.

Deatail from "Finding Shelter in a Circle of Gratitude Number 3: Meanwhile Back on Earth" art by Aberjhani. Full wall art print available for purchase on artist's Fine Art America and Pixels profiles as well as here at Bright Skylark.)

Does any of that mean Okri’s call for more mindful considerations of climate change should be ignored? Not at all. But how any given creative chooses to respond to it is up to them. My own compulsion to address climate change is apparent in the article, “The Art of Reversing Climate Change Denial,” in artwork currently on exhibit in the Savannah/Hilton Head International Airport Art Gallery, and in the book, Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah.

Taking Notice of Rare Literary Talent

I first became aware of Okri’s commanding literary voice after his novel, The Famished Road, catapulted him to world fame in the 1990s. If I hadn’t been a bookseller at the time, I probably would not have learned about the title. Moreover, I likely would have missed out on the gems which have continued to flow from his pen.

The Famished Road turned out to be one of those rare reads which I never wanted to put down and rushed back to at every opportunity. My review essay on it was published first in the now defunct Georgia Guardian newspaper and, later, in my AXS Entertainment African-American Cultural Arts column. In it, I pointed out something which illustrates well Okri’s current howl of existential angst:

His work poses very serious questions for the twenty-first century. Among them: To what extent will we allow the indefinable dynamics of something called “destiny” to maintain grief and horror in the world? How hard are human beings willing to fight to achieve and sustain justice, equanimity, or joy? And should progress be called such when it devours what is best within the human spirit? (From essay Ben Okri’s Famished Road Leads to Thrilling Reading Pleasure, by Aberjhani)

When considering the above observation made years ago, it becomes easy to see why much of my recent literary and fine visual art has indeed been mindful responses to the turbulent terrors of this historical moment. With climate change denial literally stoking the flames of mass destruction, xenophobia prompting unjust killings, and armed conflicts increasing instead of decreasing, how could they be otherwise? Small wonder that billionaire’s are investing their cash into space-bound rockets.

Supporting the Process

My brand of existential creativity cannot include the assertion that these days are humanity’s last days. I have to hold my creative endeavors and my mindful intentions accountable for something more than standing on street corners screaming the end is near. That is where the “visionary” aspect of Okri’s battle cry comes into play and where our philosophical approaches align best.

It is, without question, imperative we acknowledge the near-apocalyptic conditions forcing dangerous human migrations all over the world and producing toxic circumstances both physical and psychic in nature. It is equally vital we propose and work to secure alternative outcomes. My way of supporting that process has been, and remains, to help provide language, images, and strategies which enable us to steer our way through the raging chaos. How many before us have had to so the same?

The spark of life itself never goes out completely. The stream of existence adapts to new pathways and new challenges while yet flowing steadily toward a horizon of uncertainty and a dawn of renewed hope. This reflection is not intended to suggest the existential perils before us are insignificant. It is intended to affirm the priceless value of all we stand to lose and which yet might be salvaged.

Aberjhani
Creator of Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle
Author of Greeting Flannery O’Connor at the Back Door of My Mind

CATCH UP ON MORE CONVERSATIONS WITH THE WORLD

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Conversations with the World 111: Speaking Truth to Power and Ourselves (pt. 2 of 2)

Speaking Truth to Your Individual Power

Contact Author-Artist Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Art and Words Make an Exceptional Kind of History

Story behind the Artwork

In Good Literary Company

Contact Artist-Author Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

National Poetry Month 2022: Taking Flight on Wings of Early Morning Light

Wings of Early Morning Light

Contact Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Marking a Savannah Milestone

Surviving to Tell Our Stories

A Cultural Arts Milestone

Aberjhani
Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
& Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind
Creator of Authentic Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

Contact Author-Artist Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Conversations with the World 108: Ben Okri’s Existential Call to Creative Arms

Taking Notice of Rare Literary Talent

Supporting the Process

Contact the Author-Artist at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Aberjhani

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Conversations with the World 111: Speaking Truth to Power and Ourselves (pt. 2 of 2)

Speaking Truth to Your Individual Power

Contact Author-Artist Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Art and Words Make an Exceptional Kind of History

​Story behind the Artwork

​In Good Literary Company

Contact Artist-Author Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

National Poetry Month 2022: Taking Flight on Wings of Early Morning Light

​Wings of Early Morning Light

Contact Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Marking a Savannah Milestone

Surviving to Tell Our Stories

A Cultural Arts Milestone

AberjhaniAuthor of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah& Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My MindCreator of Authentic Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle

Contact Author-Artist Aberjhani at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Conversations with the World 108: Ben Okri’s Existential Call to Creative Arms

Taking Notice of Rare Literary Talent

Supporting the Process

Contact the Author-Artist at Bright Skylark Literary Productions

Aberjhani

Archives

Categories

Story behind the Artwork

In Good Literary Company

Wings of Early Morning Light

Aberjhani
Author of Dreams of the Immortal City Savannah
& Greeting Flannery O'Connor at the Back Door of My Mind
Creator of Authentic Silk-Featherbrush Artstyle