(Just for Fun): The other day I was looking at a “fake” Persian rug and noticed it was looking back at me. There was a face in it. Do you see it in the picture above? I outlined the face in the picture below (outlined in black).
When I was showing my wife I noticed there was another face, perhaps even better than the first. See below (outlined in white)
It seems I’m seeing faces everywhere. When visiting my parents a month ago I looked at a painting of a vase I had seen since I was born and noticed a face in it.
Do you see it? Look again:
So, do you see faces in places they shouldn’t be? It’s a human instinct to see faces. But is this stretching it too far? What do you think? Look at the “Before” and “After” pictures. Am I stretching it to see faces? What do you see?
Hi Trent, You know you really have a knack for seeing faces, I mean even in your stories, there is this out of the world imagination.. Especially I remember reading one where you had written from a story from the child’s point of view, (he is getting to school) and of course the Frank series:) I think I can see a sea horse and dragons in the last one :)
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Thanks Pranita! That is a very nice thing to say. And I do see things in your wonderful drawings. I think it’s great that you remember the story about the imaginative boy getting ready for school. Frank, of course, is always around – I don’t know if you saw that I put up a new Frank story a few days ago. Thanks for your kind words!
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You are welcome Trent! But its always encouragement when you can find such wonderful in my drawings :) I haven’t read the last Frank piece yet, but will soon. I am sorry as I haven’t been able to catch up on blogs as well as before!
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I understand. How many posts have I written about the lack of time? No pressure at all – if you don’t get to it you don’t get to it.
I do find your drawings fascinating – so organic like life forms of their own. I enjoy looking for clues to their meaning, just like with your poetry. The poetry sometimes speaks direct and loud but other times is a puzzle that I think I know the answer to, but it always slips away when I try to put words to it. But why should i try when your words are already there?
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Hi Trent, I am back again! :) Thank you so much for your interest in my drawings, it means a lot to me:)
And somehow at times the mind just wants to be straight forward and other times wants to express complexities. But poetry as any art is always open to interpretation, right?
It could mean something to me when I write it, but another thing to someone who is reading!:) I guess it all depends on our mindset and what we think about, what kind of emotions attract us.. I guess.
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True. My mom has written poetry her whole life and self-published a couple of books. Before I tried to write words for my music I experimented with a few of her poems. I tried to have the melody capture the “surface” meaning while the background music tell the deeper, “true” meaning. When I discussed a few of these poems with her over the phone I discovered my interpretation was always a bit different than hers. Usually she was just looking at the surface and I read so much more below. Perhaps her subconscious wrote it. Or perhaps it was just me.
When I find meaning in your words am I really seeing you or my own reflection?
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It has so happens, that when I read another’s poets poem, I interpret in a certain manner, or maybe I don’t understand it all.
Then suddenly when I am this zone, I derive a different meaning or suddenly the whole thing makes sense.
I guess, language and expressions are such that they the same expression could be used to explain different thoughts or circumstances. In the end we might end up seeing, feeling what we know and understand of this world and hence see a reflection of our own experiences, of ourselves. But I don’t think that it means that we don’t see or understand the poet, because we do, the poetry does help us make a certain connection to the poets mind. At That’s the sort of feeling I get when I read a poem.
But what do you think of the same?
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Words can have different meaning. That’s the point – through metaphor, slimily, allusion, etc., we can say one thing but really mean something else. We can talk about a dark beast in the jungle while we really mean something deep inside ourselves, or write about a bird while meaning our soul.
Of course we don’t have to mean something else. A flower can be a flower. But then we have the freedom to talk about the little shell, mother of pearl petals and the dragon wing leaves. A good poet can use this type of description to paint a truer picture than if the object was just literally described – the mind delights in the words and fills in the details.
Sometimes I have to read a poem several times to get it and sometimes I’ll read it quite a few times, really like it, but leave not sure if I really understood it. And there are times I’ll read something, not get it, and decide it isn’t worth it and move on (never with your poetry; )
I think we often use a poem as a mirror and see something of ourselves in someone else’s words, and draw our own interpretations. At the same time, we may be seeing that person more clearly.
A good poem is about our shared humanity. I can read your words and see myself in them. I can draw interpretations based on my life. But at the same time I’m seeing you. We are both humans and have the same feelings and emotions. We can have the same types of hopes and dreams. We have a shared humanity that transcends distance and culture. Reading the great poets of the past you quickly discover it transcends time itself. We can be lonely people living in the cocoons of our minds and suddenly realize that this person has written our thoughts out. This shared humanity connects us to every person on the planet.
OK, to answer your question, even if we draw a different interpretation than the poet, one that more reflects our thoughts than the poet’s thoughts, I still think we have seen a bit of the poet’s mind and made a connection.
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One of my favorite memories is sitting on a Persian rug we had in our old house and looking at the faces hidden in its design. I miss that rug.
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With abstract patterns we can see a lot of different things. I wonder if the rug makers purposefully made the faces? I know true Persian rugs have specific symbols and and patterns that are made to represent real world objects. Oh, I just found the term – Pareidolia.
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I’ve found faces in all sorts of things since I was a kid too. I’d always thought it was just a weird little quirk, not worth mentioning. Now I have something to think about, and probably will until I finally drift off for the night.
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Humans are wired to recognize faces and so people see faces in all sorts of things. I think most people ignore it most of the time. Some people, like you, notice it. In some ways seeing what isn’t there is the root of imagination.
Thanks for your comment.
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This is the first time you saw the face in the vase painting?! I remember being fascinated with that face as a small child.
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I may have seen it before and just forgot – when I say before I mean back in Avon Lake. However, when I noticed it a few weeks ago I pointed it out to everyone around (Shane, Mom, Dad, etc.) and they all acted like they’d never seen it before. Either they were humoring me (“Poor Trent, never noticed the face in the vase”) or they hadn’t seen it either. It’s pretty clear so I’m surprised people never noticed it. Well, at least some people since you always knew about it.
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