"I want to be an artist who does not look away, who honors the messy real."

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It's a delight to read Daniel Bowman Jr.'s personal essay "Dancing in Fields of Wheat and Chaff" about The Glen Workshop, now up at Art House America. The essay ends with this beautiful image:

I tried to dance. Awkward and unsure, I judged the other imperfect souls in the circle. Then I closed my eyes and listened. I stopped trying to dance, to be in control, and just did it, just danced. Just celebrated everything, wheat and chaff. I danced for a long time. Later I reached up to wipe the sweat from my forehead, surprised by a handful of oil.

When was the last time you were surprised by 'a handful of oil' on your forehead?

Daniel Bowman Jr.'s poems were published in issue #10 of Cha.

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