WELCOME TO EARTH: YOU TOO CAN BE US, by Donald Brackett

Welcome to Earth, photography by Donald Brackett (Canada) contemporary

WELCOME TO EARTH :
YOU TOO CAN BE US

“What is essential is invisible to the eye
and can only be seen with the heart.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupery


1.
“HOW TO RECOGNIZE A HUMAN BEING”

Gravity plus appetite equals forward motion:

We are limited to three dimensions, 
with the hope of a fourth forming our future.

Our bodies are very fragile and 
our existence is incredibly brief, 
hence our history: colonizing the void.

2.
“HOW TO GREET THE HUMAN CREATURE”

Occupying the intermediate zone:
We are living radios and living clocks.

We have multiple languages saying 
the same thing without realizing it.

Our skins look different but inside
we are identical, a fact we frequently forget.
Our destiny is unified in absence. 

3.
“HOW TO TAKE A HUMAN OUT ON A DATE”

These are metaphysical mnemonics,
for knowing the situation we are in.

Our beliefs are based in large part
on misinterpreting everything that happens to us.

Our living and dying occur without the
slightest bit of certainty, apart from the fact
that soon everything must disappear before our eyes.

4. 
“HOW TO ENJOY HUMANIST HUMOUR”

Essentials rest below the surface:

Remember: any attempt to explain 
our basic human dilemma, of which 
all art is an emblem, will inevitably
result in paradox, since paradox,
and to some extent irony, immediately
arises from attempts to express the ineffable.

5. 
“HOW TO DEAL WITH REJECTION”

Accidental archives:

An emergency is waiting to happen.
My thirst is your thirst : my thirst first.
Procedures for a well-timed ending.

End of the world productions: 
because........we cater your dreams.

6.
“HOW TO KNOW WHEN ITS TIME TO GO”

Slaves of the alphabet:
a fence surrounding nothing.

Entrance to the large hours: 
no east or west in dreams.

Making of virtue of necessity:
the meaning of life is that it ends.

7.
“HOW NOT TO BECOME A HUMAN”

Mobile enigma.

A eulogy for our history:
Queen of the earth
we worship at your feet.

Some things are perfect the way they are.

Suddenly the search for
the miraculous comes unglued, 
and we find ourselves 
in love with being lost. 

8.
“HOW TO FILL IN THE BLANKS”  

We have forgotten our names
on a landscape fashioned from 
laughter and tears: so we wait.

The armour of our heart
is almost unimaginable.

Our animals are still 
hiding deep inside of us. 

Be careful of befriending us.

Donald Brackett

​Donald Brackett is a Vancouver-based culture journalist and poet who writes about music, art and films, as well as curating film programs for Cinematheque. He is the author of three books with Backbeat Books: on Amy Winehouse, 2016, Sharon Jones, 2018, and Tina Turner, 2020. He is currently working on a new book about the conceptual artist and musician Yoko Ono.