What do you see?

Images: in your face, at the barely-visible end of your peripheral, behind you, inside your mind. You don't need to be visually-oriented like I am to figure out that the world is pretty much a 5-course meal for your eyes.

In Rhetoric class, we're learning about the persuasive power of images (often mixed with words). While it may seem like a no-brainer, it's often the obvious, taken-for-granted concepts we ignore rather than carefully consider.

Of course, me being me, I love to consider things--roll them softly along grey coils, spin them till up and down are only intangible concepts, taste the strands of truth slowly unraveling, feel the explosion of understanding in the tips of my toes, bask in the stillness after thundering enlightenment (the stillness crying out that I still know nothing for certain).

I love to consider things. Words and images are pretty powerful entities, throwing me in a whirlwind of thought whether I'm ready for it or not.

An advertisement stole my mind yesterday. For our class investigation into the persuasiveness of images, we focused on pages found in outdated publications. I don't know what magazine the particular advertisement was from (my friend Sierra was originally looking at it) or how it relates to the product or service being sold (I think it's for a computer company).

However, it did succeed at causing me to question that "silly" decision to stop smoking. I'll upload the image later, but here's a taste.

Image: Sensual woman with a burning cigarette between her teeth.

Text:
_____________________________
some people say
that we should go through life
with our eyes wide open
those people will never see what i see
they will never experience
the joy of sitting in the dark
a darkness that gives birth do ideas.
when imagination
mingles with inspiration.
it is then that you realize
that darkness is not unlike
a blank canvas.
anything is possible
_____________________________

Today marks Day 9 of my smokeless journey. I wonder why I quit buying lovely Crushes and want to cave for artistic reasons. I haven't tried writing a poem yet without my dependable "sin stick." What if I can't do it? What's so great about keeping my eyes open to a distant, potentially cancerous reality when the world dancing in my head looks so much prettier? I cannot see death, but I can see poetry formed from waves of smoke. Dammit.

I need to remember that:
-Smoke isn't just killing me, production is also injuring the planet
-Creativity is not ignited by flames but by soul
-Frivolous outside stimuli (images) should not dictate my decisions (I can be persuasive back)
-Um, it's BAD for me--don't do it...

I will keep my eyes open to see Day 10.