alex katz. the art of optimism. 

how to stay interested each day? how to wake up and truly embrace the gift of life? i used to think it was about doing something that brought fear into my life. something that caused me to be uncomfortable, something new and untested. or to learn something that i had yet to know. learn to play an instrument, pick up a new language or learn a new recipe. make new friends, travel or get a pet. these are all acceptable ideas for keeping things different. creating a change while also putting things on the horizon. 

is it enough?  boredom and exhaust flood the moments. for nothing else, is it simply just another day? it is easy to give up on all the projects and challenges i have never begun. i fear the older years. when the monotony and repetition intermingles with the pain and the lapse of memories. why do we live? what was the necessary point for us at this time on the planet? did the world really need another mouth to feed, and person to exploit its resources. and then we reproduce.

like weeds in a garden we simply propagate and add to an already complex and overcrowded background. taking up space and air we consume and dispose, occasionally bumping into one another in a foe or friend posture. in time we grow old, less of a force of growth and more of a placemark trying to hold its own space while others crowd around to get their own portion. in boxes we live, and in boxes we die.  
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perhaps piano, i have always like the sound of the ivories. and i think i could also write some lyrics. songs about love and far away places, words that would rhyme and add some life to a party. in a tuxedo or in all black, sitting among old and new friends, swaying my head side to side as the lyrics flow…..
in another time and another place.
a forgotten smile with anther face,
a moment shared, a time for fun.
let is shine and let if run, if its true it wont be undone. 
these are the feelings that must be shared
these are the notes, that must be heard.
finally a time we had
smiling, not feeling bad.