I wrote this poem while on the Chicago leg of the 2009 Scotland-Chicago Teaching Artist Exchange. It was originally a commission for a BBC website for young people providing creative stimuli and multi-media tools. That online resource no longer exists but this poem has become for me something of a manifesto – hence this website.
Your Life Is A Work Of Art
In the blink of an eye
on an ordinary day
When your pocket spills a
picture that says it all
When the street you’re in
is a scene from a film
When your soundscape
whirlwinds in a single kiss
Your life is a work of art.
The shine that you
bring to the story
The way that you
wear that hat
The faces you saw
in the cracks on the floor
Your life is a work of art.
When you and your
friends strike a pose
The reason that you
chose those rhymes
The angles of your arms
at the end of the dance
Your life is a work of art.
Your own reflection
when you least expect it
Or colours caught in your
drawer of clothes
A collage of everything
you’ve ever left behind
Your life is a work of art.
How you frame it
when you see it
because you sense it
and how you edit.
It’s yours to inhabit
It’s yours to exhibit
You are the creator
You are the curator.
Your life is a work of art.
Elspeth Murray 2009
Your Life Is A Work Of Art 