Pondering Banksy

Imagine pursuing your passion, your art, to the fullest, and the whole world sees your creations, marvels at them, and you receive love from millions of fans. Your work is shared to new fans, and even though the adulation is genuine, your personal life remains just that, personal. How is this possible? How can you be adored, raved over, and still able to maintain a semblance of normalcy? Simple; be like Banksy.

     Banksy is an anonymous graffiti artist, social commentator, political activist, and filmmaker based in London. And no one knows who he/she is. How fucking cool is that? You show up in the middle of the night, paint/stencil a work of art on a wall, then disappear back into your regular life. Banksy's work, whether on canvas, a wall, a building, sells for millions. Damn.

      I found out about Banksy a few years ago, and I've been following them ever since. I pondered doing a few things, like posting poems on walls all over Chicago, but I realized I suffer from something Banksy doesn't seem to have; ego. Lol. I would write a poem in the middle of the night on a public wall, and I probably wouldn't be able to refrain from sprawling msh (my initials) somewhere on the wall. I want people to know it was me. 

     So whether it's an article for 'Voices from the Bleachers,' a piece for Garden Spices magazine (I got a deadline this week! Oops!), a poem, a short story, a novel, an essay, or a screenplay, my name or initials will be on it, because my pride won't let it be any other way. 

     Check out Banksy, and I applaud them wherever or whomever they may be. As for me, I bought a can of green spray paint recently, just in case...