"Young Oskar," 2010, Joshua Abelow

Young Oskar
01/2010 Joshua Abelow

My mind wanders behind
the wheel. Sometimes,
like now, I pull the car
over to the side of some
strange road to jot down
some strange thought.
I'm parked on the side
of the road in the dark
thinking about how it feels
to be a young artist.
There's a lot of romanticism
in those two words: YOUNG ARTIST
Those words hold romance
for me too, although I usually
feel buried under rocks or
like I'm continually being
crushed by tidal waves.
Here we are with all our
so called talents, but
the wavy lines come out
straight and the straight lines
come out wavy. Every
now and then you think
you've done it right and
then some jerk comes along
and says, "Great job! Do
you know the work of
Oskar Kokoschka?"