This is creation,
he
says,
a
work of art out of rubble.
Imagine
Michelangelo
chiseling
masterworks of the human form
from
what amounts to a lump of rock,
a
rock teetering on the edge of a cliff,
waiting
for the coyote to come along
and
push it over the edge,
only
for said coyote
to
trip and fall and somehow end
up
underneath the falling boulder
and
they fall together,
fall
long enough for the coyote
to
pull out a sign saying
“yelp”
or “help” or “wouldn’t you just know it?”
before
he hits the ground
before
the boulder hits him
and
together they hit the earth hard,
but
the coyote slinks out from underneath
as
flat as a pancake
in
time to see the
dastardly
road runner speeding
by
only
to stop long enough
to
stick out his tongue--beep,
beep--
in
a mocking gesture--meep,
meep--
only
so the coyote can rise
accordion-like--phoenix-like--
from
the rubble to do it all again,
but
next time he’ll build his own wings
and
glide on air, hovering
over the road runner for
miles and miles
only
to fly into
the side of
a mountain.
This
is what art takes,
he
says,
pain
and failure
and
the ability to get up and
do it all again
and for nothing, for
no monetary gain whatsoever.
Ah,
the coyote, the
wild and wily coyote,
a
truly respectful figure,
someone
out of the days of chivalry,
an
idealized form, a person,
a
Don Coyote,
whom
we all should aspire to.
Forget
the fact
he
never gets what he wants,
he
never gives up
and
there is the art,
there
is creation.
But
that’s the trouble, isn’t it,
he
says,
the
never giving up?
It’s
not easy to sustain such
an attitude
after
years and years of
pain and failure.
But
you must remember
the
years and years of
pain and failure
will
eventually pay off,
maybe
not in financial rewards,
but
personal rewards,
personal
triumphs.
Someone,
somewhere, one day,
will
see what you have done
and
they will respond.
But
remember,
the
years and years of
pain and failure
lead
the way to art
and
art leads
the
way to life.
So I say, to myself,
Is that why you're here, oh Yoda
lecturing us about art
instead of creating it?
