Following is an excerpt from M. Nicole van Dam's book, "Tempo - The Rhythm and Rhyme of the Artist" - this one on dieting - we hope this makes you smile!
On Dieting
Oh the endless craves
How I strive for caloric free days
And when I fail, to not so enjoy the tasty error of my ways
Is anyone truly naturally thin
Able to eat whatever they desire and when?
I hate to diet
I miss my butter
I miss my bread
Must I do this til I am dead?
I want melted decadent choc’late chips
Sumptuously slipping between yearning lips
But somehow never cushioning waist or hips
I want brownies, ice cream and cake
I want guiltless crepes when I wake
I want tea and muffins
Rich sauces and cozy stews
Pizza, pastries and pasta
All without an extra pound to rue
I want the workout without the sweat
The calories burned without the go out and get
I want to be fit and trim
Able to fulfill every edible whim
It’s undeniable, it’s true
I’m a ravenous hypocrite through and through
So for now, while horrifically healthy food will have to do
I shall relish sinful savory sweet dreams while I chew.
Tea Time artwork by M. Nicole van Dam
To purchase "Tempo - The Rhythm and Rhyme of the Artist" please visit Butterflies.bz
The following excerpt from M. Nicole van Dam's book, "Tempo - The Rhythm and Rhyme of the Artist" is a poem and artwork, created separately, that combine to create a powerful statement about our impact on our envirnoment. The "Yellow Light" painting depicts the tension between our everyday needs and the needs of nature around us, as it strives to fit within the world we allow them (symbolized by the bird nesting in the yellow light, the "proceed with caution" avatar). The poem serves to create more awareness of our choices and our responsiblities. Both works are paired together in M. Nicole van Dam's book, "Tempo - The Rhythm and Rhyme of the Artist" - please forward a link to this page to share the green thinking!
Flying Green
It is time to be green
Toss the toxic benzene
Past is oil’s hour
We don’t need crude, sweet or sour
Make way for solar power
Or if not by sun, then by wind or grain
Let’s explore renewable terrain
It’s time to nurture nature
Call it by any nomenclature
We need to wake up now
Save the earth in Earth somehow
Each of us must do our part
When would be a better time to start?
Recycle, be open-minded, try new things
Let your creativity soar on green wings
There are vast open windows to explore
Once we decide to close petrol’s door.
Yellow Light artwork by M. Nicole van Dam
To purchase "Tempo - The Rhythm and Rhyme of the Artist" please visit Butterflies.bz
As an animal lover, M. Nicole van Dam has struggled with the concept of how we treat our foodstock - even the word "foodstock" makes these creatures anonymous. Hence, the following poem, "Anonymous but not Disregarded," in hopes that perhaps people will be reminded that we often forget what we had for dinner or lunch a few days ago, despite the unspeakable horror of the animals that provide this easily forgotten meal. This work was taken from M. Nicole van Dam's book, "Tempo - The Rhythm and Rhyme of the Artist" - please share a link to this page in hopes it might spread awareness!
Anonymous but not Disregarded
Did you ever measure how many things must die
So that you, only you, must live each day?
I tried to once, and found with dismay
That I didn’t think my little life was worth so many others
So while sadly I cannot live and make my life death-causing free,
And while ever so much wish nothing had to die for me,
At least, if I have my druthers,
I can save some of my animal brothers
That piled-high seafood salad I used to eat
Must’ve cost a hundred lives just to give me a treat
And the veal who began as a baby calf tethered, not allowed to roam
Suffered so that I could have an easily forgotten dinner cozily in my home
And what of the cows whose feet never touch grass,
Stuffed in pens, “living” life in one miserable unloved mass,
or chickens jailed in tight cages
How many of those did I so thoughtlessly eat through the ages?
I truly believe that if our food in our stores was properly labeled
“Dead Cow who Suffered for You,” we would not be so enabled
To ignore their plight
And we just might
Become aware
Of how many things die for us as we laze in our dining chair
Think of how our meat comes tidily hermetically sealed
It looks nothing like anything once alive whose wounds now cannot be healed
Would you really be able to buy it if you had to see eye to eye
The brown-eyed critter that once was alive?
Could you pull the trigger that led them from farm to table
Wouldn’t you be more able
To eat a little extra green
Just so as not to enter that murderous dream
Of that blood and slaughter end to an inhumane life,
Wouldn’t you skip a few animal meals to limit that strife?
If you were really truly aware
Wouldn’t you care?
I know they say, “But the cows wouldn’t be alive except for me to eat”
But once anything is alive, don’t we owe it our best to treat
It with respect, just because it shares the earth with us
Isn’t that, as the planet’s keeper, our sacred trust?
Just because we helped nature an extra cow to breed
Does that mean we have the right to murder it, for food or greed?
And yes, I do believe there are those that must eat meat, but every day?
Must the majority of us live that way?
I wish too, that with the animals it began and ended,
But that’s not all in our world we have not yet befriended
Think about how many trees die and how we our forests demean
Just to keep us warm, housed, written, and clean
For the table upon which I eat
For the boxes in which I buy the shoes on my feet
The paper that wraps the presents I give
Must all these trees die, for me to live?
Then there are toxic puddles, clouds and radiated pollution
It’s overwhelming, I know not the solution
Except to be aware
To act in a way that shows I care
To minimize the harm I do
And to share what I see with you
I ask myself every day to think
Of how many lives I consume in a thoughtless blink
I know nature and animals still suffer for me every day
I wear leather shoes, drive a car, read and write paper books, aid in the world’s
decay
And heaven help me if veggies have feelings too
I don’t know what I’d do
But for now, it is my hope by cutting back if only a little
It is a first step in starting to whittle
the harm I cause, the deaths my needs create,
Hoping with these small changes I spare an anonymous life a dire fate.
Chef at the Farmer's Market artwork by M. Nicole van Dam
To purchase "Tempo - The Rhythm and Rhyme of the Artist" please visit Butterflies.bz
Voting Booth, Tea Time, Yellow Light and Chef at the Farmer's Market artworks each respectively by and TM & (c) 2005 - 2011 M. Nicole van Dam. All Rights Reserved.
TM and (c) 2005-2011 M. Nicole van Dam. All Rights Reserved.
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