"High Aspirations"
Open Edition
22 x 11 inches
$125

(a painting in the Harry Belafonte collection for the painter, Ernie Barnes)

talkin' 'bout an aesthetic experience,
your painting hit me like a lightning bolt--
the gaunt arms, the long, slender youth
muscled by the desire for social ascension
leaping above a bushel basket that's fashioned
to make a hoop,
the young man is shoeless, his form perfect,
the basketball cupped in his gigantic hand,
a stark and rustic southern shack in the background,
everything moving away from it, up & beyond.
& this kid with the ball ain't playin'.
he's too lean & intense for nonsense.
mind and body chiseled to score in a homemade basket
at least a foot higher than the rulebook allows.

plainly the kid is a winner.
plainly your painting is a graphic of black hope.
i'm cheering for us, cheering with all my heart, brother.


 by Mbembe Milton Smith

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