Unabashedly

Unabashedly

On any given day
in any given order,
my emotions span a very wide range.
No, I'm neither depressed,
manic nor schizophrenic
at least, not officially).

But I am deeply aware:
sensitive to the extremes
of joy and pain
on this little planet of ours.

In the midst of such a spectrum,
we need beauty and truth
for our sanity.
I try to create an open conduit
for these qualities through music,
hoping that the sounds
will elicit a similar response from you
as that which spurred me
to string these notes together.

Uneasy melancholy,
anger and despair,
quirky acceptance and calm,
and finally, yes,
complete elation.
This is just a glimpse
of the world around us,
on any given day...
in any given order.

In art we can put these emotions forth
in a very specific order
if we so choose,
and in a very direct manner.
We can communicate as passionately
and blatantly as we wish.
And I do.
Unabashedly.

Alex Shapiro 2006