Art Gallery - May 4, 2016

Byron Shen holds an MFA degree in painting from Cranbrook Academy of Art and teaches art at Holland Hall’s Upper School. Represented by the M.A. Doran Gallery, Shen is best known for painting “emotional landscapes.” He believes in art’s ability to transform individuals and society to seek better ways of being.

Basic Disaster Procedure

by Brook Becker

With a more peaceful calm,
The more dangerous storm:
Like a silent atmosphere 
Before the tornadoes twist.
Or, the time lapse in response
When you tell the mentally ill:
“It’s all in your head.” As if
We didn’t know where it was.

In tornado alley, people like to say
The weather is bipolar. 
A word they scraped out
Of their gutters and storm drain. 

You’d be smart to leave for shelter,
To head for calmer ground. 
But I can’t stop you if you won’t.

If you stick around like a storm chaser,
If you want to stay after sirens
Warn of my pending episode,
Then let us enjoy the falling sky. 
Let’s build a sanctuary of Polaroids and selfies.
I don’t need you to love me,
I just need you to not call me crazy. 

Brook Becker was the 2014 Louder Than a Bomb (LTAB) Champion. She currently works as a teaching artist for LTAB and is pursuing a degree in journalism.

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