Infinity

Yayao Kusami said, “I think I will be able to, in the end, rise above the clouds and climb the stairs to Heaven, and I will look down on my beautiful life.”

And, with her art, she urges us to lose ourselves within the ‘infinite’; to find our space among the stars: us ‘dots’, tiny dots, twinkling in the multitude of vast universes. She makes us consider this;

‘One dot is nothing… but what happens when there are lots of dots…’

Energy ✨ life ⚡️

So, standing in a five metre square box, at the Tate yesterday, immersed in lights and surrounded by water, I accepted her psychedelic invitation to ponder, just for two and a half minutes,

‘What this little life is all about…’

This is the poem I wrote, dedicated to a dear friend who that very day, existed on the edge of this life and that; a soul waiting to see the lights beyond.

This little life

So fleeting,

Fast as starlight,

Quicker than a Babylon candle,

Slow as true love’s kiss,

Soft as the unfurling of a leaf,

Hard as marble,

Carved by water

And wind.

The gigantic fiery planets turn

Into dust.

We are born and die

in a heartbeat …

One can never exist separately

We are eternally ONE.

I left the Tate simultaneously baffled and content.

I don’t want to know what it’s all about. I’ll maintain my not knowing, my policy of ‘keeping an open mind’ and not settling on an answer. I’ll just let it all wash over me - let it be - just as it is.

‘Suck the moments dry,’ as Sartre advised.

Be grateful for the ordinary moments.

Honour the impermanence of it all.

For soon, all too soon, it will all change.

A new star is in the sky tonight.

My lovely friend, Lisa Elaine Tovey.

She would read this and say, ‘that's beautiful’.

As was she, the epitome of beauty ✨🌙