Brewing into wine, child into man

Dr Abe V Rotor

   Jared, 4, listens to the sparkling of newly brewed wine; cellar of basi in jars undergoing ageing.

He can hear deeper and keener,

things we take for granted;

innocence hones what has dulled

us, and had long wanted.

Wonder what he hears in a jar 
of wine in deep slumber,
ageing into its fullest prime,
to the pride of the brewer.   

What matters most to a young hand 
more than his presence,
but the brewing in him into man
of the finest essence.  ~

  

Fallowing

Dr Abe V Rotor 

                           The earth in summer Courtesy of Nilo Manalunsong, NFA

Lifeless it seems, scorched in the summer sun,

      it cracks, it heaves, it sighs;

the earth fallows, after the harvest is done.

      it stirs, it talks, it cries.  

And the world is still, nothing moves around,

      abandoned and alone,

the herons and the mayas to faraway bound,

      frogs are still as stone. 

Then they croak, herald the habagat season,

      and the end of strife,

the earth wakes to the rain for good reason:

      rebirth, the cycle of life.  ~

  

I reach for the stars

Dr Abe V Rotor

      If by light years I am touched by the stars, 

I'm but a visitor just passing;

let me in spirit travel and pay in return, 

            to share my own world's blessing.~

A Valley of Life and Death

Mural and Poem by Dr Abe V Rotor

A valley of death, so stories go,

     for the old and the young, too;

and who would dare this fateful

     place but a lonely soul?

A valley of tears with barren shed,

     evil on nature its final bed, 

with a sprig of promised peace

     and temporary ease.

A valley of life of verdant green,

     once a full blooming scene;

life of the river down the sea,

     a world of wonder and free.  

A valley of promise, heed its call,

     words in the pulpit and hall,        

and in make believe by painting, 

     not at all worth praising.

A valley of suffering takes its toll;

     blind and deaf, the prayerful

waits for the angels to be sent   

     to this valley of death. ~   

Original title, "Dirge over a Watershed Mural." The wall mural is found at St Paul University Quezon City along Aurora Blvd.  It needs restor

The Silence of the Pond

 Painting and Poem by Abe V Rotor

The Silence of the Pond, AVR Circa 1989

Here true silence lies,

not eerie, not deafening,

for silence is communion

of self and surrounding.

Here true silence lies,

leaves quiver in the breeze,

ripples gently rise and fade,

buzz the honey bees.

Here true silence lies,

in the rhythm of the sky,

the rainbow a huge harp,

music all, they sing or cry.

Here true silence lies:

the sound of the pond,

not in its depth or breadth;

the trees by their bond.

Here true silence lies,

beyond the audible,

in magic waves in the air,

and the perceptible.

Here true silence lies,

giving in is acceptance,

the root of humility,

courage at any instance.

Here true silence lies,

when the heart longs, yet sings;

thoughts not to reason, but flies

from the confines of living.

Here true silence lies,

sweet memories an art

in the silence of a pond,

throbbing in the heart. ~

Exploring the wide, wide world of art

Dr Abe V Rotor 

Composite painting on Reviving the Spirit of Nationalism by a student artist. 

Student artists at work. Inter-school painting competition, University of Santo Tomas, Manila 2013

Art spans through epochs and ages - from the early Homo sapiens and possibly, the Neanderthals, to Van Gogh and Picasso - it is universal, timeless, yet evolving;

Art in fossils, art in totem poles, pyramids and ziggurats, etched on rocks, cast in metals – they are emissaries of history, and part of history themselves that speak of culture.

Prehistoric paintings in the caves of Lascaux, France, usher the birth of human art, the dawn of man's consciousness of the world outside the confines of darkness;

Stone age man expressing his genius in inventions, his triumphs over beasts, his skills yet his reverence to a god - the primordial art of living towards the making of a society;

The Renaissance bloomed in the fifteenth century through the Greco-Roman model, surviving the Dark Ages and imbibing part of it, that make culture varied and rich;

We are astonished by the art of Michelangelo, Raphael, and Da Vinci, as they were astonished by the art of lost civilizations - Egyptian, Babylonian, Persian, Greco-Roman;

The latter could have learned their art from prototype cultures, and from cultures on the other side of the globe – the Aztecs, Chinese, Indians, prior to their colonization.

Exploration brought two worlds together, the East and West - the latter as masters of peaceful cultures, under a prototype globalization version of a master-slave relationship;

Art flourished and the lethargic schools of Classicism and Romanticism opened up; movements followed one after another – Realism to Impressionism to Expressionism;

On to Abstract Art which dominates today in various ultra-modern schools like surrealism, yet art continues to cling to its roots, making alive its ethnic and indigenous origin;

Modern tools, electronics and computers, have brought in a new face of art in all fields, challenging the true meaning of fine art, of music conservatory, of classics;

Art in advertisement, art in high rise, art in cinema, art in malls, art in athletics, fashion, body language, cars, drones, war, etc. – make us wonder what is art and what is not;

Crisis in art to fundamentalists and critics on their pedestals, revolution to avant-garde, futuristic in the computer, money in business, boom in media and communication art;

Art, where art thou heading for? When millions have not enough food, education, homes, in the midst of affluence, yet not enough sanity, not enough hope to live for?

Revolution in art in reverse: the bypassed involved, the gifted challenged, the uninvolved touched in their lives – for art’s meaning is to live with meaning. ~

 

Top, Futurism: Death by Genetic Engineering by AVR; Stop Nuclear Development, Love Life by a 12 year old summer art workshop participant.