Right now my toes are naked. This very minute, as I type --- naked. They are sans polish. They don’t know a sock or a slipper. They have totally gone commando. I’m sitting here with naked toes, and I’m thinking that I might let this go on for a while.
Part of me says, “Take care of this! Polish those toes!” But part of me says, “not yet.” Because being naked, whether literally, figuratively, or metaphorically, can be a good thing that brings about new perspectives. Being uncomfortable, feeling exposed, feeling like you’ve put yourself out there – these are all things that artists use to create something that transports them – and others -- beyond the experience.
For me, being naked really means going beyond the fuss, the pageantry, the facades, the persona – anything that we put between us and the world – and reaching in and grabbing hold of something that is honest and real. Then I try to weave those threads into the cloth that becomes a song. It is what makes writing so enjoyable. It’s what makes art so enjoyable, because my truth is not your truth, and your truth is not mine. I don’t have to know what you were thinking when you painted that beautiful picture, but deep within the fiber of it, the truth is still there.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that you can’t really be true to yourself if you don’t even know your own feet. Can you? I wonder…
