SO YOU WANT MY BIO
So you want my pedigree
a bit more than you can actually see
I'm the broken brush with the Jamaican accent
strong , weak, prayerful yet impatient
compelled by a craft that sustains yet kills me
not quite fitting into any category
innovative traditionalist and art adventurer
living in the moment yet creating for tomorrow
father, husband, friend, and brother
black, dreadlocked, exiled foreigner
world traveler who likes to stay home
a penny-pinching spendthrift who parties alone
to beats of Marley, Hooker, Burning Spear
in a damp basement studio with paint scented air
inspiration coming like from a fire hose
drenching my soul, then my skin, then my clothes
letting God guide then deliver
my daily drink from the esoteric river
my life is a prophecy of fifty one years
my work a revelation of banished fears
of politics, religion, gender, and race
taking on any issue, protected by grace
painting my truth and not just what's cool
even at the expense of being called a fool
letting only Art provide the means
of tapping into tears, love, and dreams
like a troubled Basquiat or Van Gogh gone insane
it is your children who will speak the name
for the prophecy has already been told
the events begin to unfold
it should be the work's eloquence and not how much I say
for it is the work that always points the way
Athlone Clarke