Poem : "On Air and Stone"
Water Colour Pencil Painting by Ms Teo (enhanced with Bleach on phone)
Hey! Airhead!
Where's your Stonehead?
Lost it?
Is this the best you can do?
Standing in the distance
(Statuesque)
Staring at the sky
(Stoic)
Having a conversation
(Static)
Spinning a tale and a lie
(Still)
A monument of gold
(reminding us)
A Medusa of old
(turning us)
the Onlookers to Stone
(taunting us)
Until heads were rolled.
(releasing us)
Hey! Airhead!
(Still)
Where's our Stonehead?
(Static)
The Crown of Glory?
(Stoic)
The Empire of our Mind?
(Statuesque)
Silence.
Speechless.
Save us
still.
A Picture -Performance Poem written by Ms Teo (8th October 2017)
The initial inspiration for the above Performance Poem "On Air and Stone" came from an interesting painting, "The Disquieting Muses" by Giorgio de Chirico (1918).
The painting was introduced to me at a recent "Ekphrasis" writing workshop conducted by poet Desmond Kon Zhicheng-Mingde at Library@Orchard.
Picture from https://www.wikiart.org/en/giorgio-de-chirico/the-disquieting-muses-1918-1
Out of my own curiosity, I did more research to find out more about Giorgio de Chirico's art. It led me to the picture below, which further inspired me to illustrate my own picture.
Picture from http://bari.repubblica.it/cronaca/2016/06/21/foto/conversano-142487616/1/#1
Subsequently, what had started out as a one-stanza poem extended into a five-stanza Performance Poem, "On Air and Stone".
The poem alludes to my childhood fascination (more like an obsession) with the Greek mythological character, Medusa.
However, I have deliberately avoided the use of the terms "myth" and "mythology" in the poem because I would like to allow more room for broader interpretation by the readers.
Some readers may ask, why "Airhead" and "Stonehead"?
Obviously they are a word play with compound words, endowed with rich figurative meanings.
The word "airhead" has two meanings. Firstly, it is a military term referring to a place of active operation whereby military supplies and personnels could be extracted by air. However, it also has a negative connotation: a silly or foolish person. If you have guessed that I use the term "airhead" as a figure of speech, you have got it right!
As for the second term, "Stonehead", I first heard of this term during a Sunday sermon at church. Without a doubt, the church is a good place for intercultural education.
Ancient East Asian languages are somewhat similar to the Middle Eastern language, Hebrew. They are enriched with what I call "Picture Character" words or "pictorial words". In Hanzi, "stonehead" is literally 石头， rock or stone. In Korean language, it is 또라이 which has a similar connotation with "airhead", but carries a much derogatory meaning.
According to urbandictionary.com , the compound word "stonehead" is a cross between a "stoner" and a "pothead", referring to someone who is surrounded by pothead friends constantly high on drug, especially marijuana.
Alternatively, in Google Image, there are many pictures of stone heads of the ancient civilisations.
You may pick any of the above connotation to interpret the poem. If you observe my own illustration carefully, you will also see a faint outline of a head.
Of course, you may also say it is a reversal play on the word "Headstone". Why not?
This has served as one of my personal teaching tools for Creative Writing for all ages. As the creator of the performance poem, I do have my own interpretation. However, I would always love to hear from my students first!
My advice to fellow Creative Writing Teachers who teach the younger children or teach in an intercultural setting, do share the Greek myth of Medusa with your students first and pre-teach the pertinent vocabulary before writing. Do bring it across to the young children that this is a myth, not fact or truth. Encourage the students to turn the picture or the poem into their own prose.
Happy Writing! Let Your Creativity
dance on paper!
