Art Gallery - May 18, 2016

“Wings & Flings (Spiraling),” paper, fabric & glue on canvas, 12x12”, 2016

Tulsa native Hannah Shepherd uses vintage books, magazines and fabric to create vibrant multi-media collages. Her work explores nostalgia, love, femininity and indulgence by juxtaposing text, graphic and photographic elements. Follow her on Instagram: @hannahandherscissors

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Canaanite Howl 

by Nick Weaver

I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by
​newsfeeds, direct messages and status updates,
hysterically dragging ourselves through cyber streets at dawn
begging for a retweet. #Angry. #Thirsty. 
We scream staccato keystrokes like Mountain Dew junkies.

Hypnotized by our avatars, hardware STD-free.
Lonely for someone to check our check-ins,
because we want you to like us,
and like us for liking you back,
and always notice when we are not at home.

I saw my peers’ eyes go dark in every suburb,
bug zappers dimming as they used cellphone cameras 
to search the sky for distant red stars
because it’s been so long since the neighborhood has seen something red.
We can’t even lay claim to the history in our veins anymore.

We stopped sacrificing to Moloch after children became Canaanites,
fire gods lacing themselves through tiny notches in spines.
We played Words with Friends until we had neither.
Really we don’t care if you listen to our quotes, or our reviews,
we want you to listen to our howls.

We want you to scroll down to the comments section of our youth
and reply to all the questions left unanswered.
Open an “epilogue-of-our-lives” dot tumblr dot com
free for anyone to follow. Not full of things unsaid
but an explosion you’ve never heard before.

I want to detonate my online presence,
leave the fallout of my browser behind.
Join my generation. Delete my OkCupid profile
and find love with a person
that I can be a monster with.

Because I want to be a werewolf
pack animal meshing with a brother’s DNA
cursing and foaming at the mouth.
We will tear into chests and rip out the hearts of all who bare them to us.
We’ll relocate passion and compassion. 

We will find the stories again,
lift them to the cosmos
dripping and wet, clenched between our jaws.
Pain can be shown to the world
and the world can know it still has heroes.

There’s a full moon coming
and it’s gonna be blood red
so
howl for us.

Nick Weaver is a poet and spoken word performer. He lives in Tulsa and in his free time enjoys staring into space.

“Mermaid,” colored pencil, gouache and acrylic on paper, 30” x 22”, 2013  JP Morrison’s work focuses on the beauty of the human form and complexity of human experience. This work is in the permanent collection of the Bundaberg Regional Galleries in Queensland, Australia.