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Amy Ning // puppets on parade

by Lorin Drexler · May 5, 2022

Amy Ning – Featured Artist

puppets on parade

i haven't been kidnapped
from my life as an animal
i've been displaced in the development of
a mutant brain and its vices
my instincts buried in the wilderness
just like my other fellow monkeys
but i am no longer like them
though they are like me
i've been given this thing
this jewel
this crown
this idol of more-than-a-monkey
and i am playing the stage for this
hallucinogenic theater that's been 
actualized as real
conducting tantrums between
murder and suicide
trying hard
to be serious
straining 
to be taken seriously
to be thought of as more-than-a-monkey
look at me
i look like an elf in a
damn costume... 
I AM A MONKEY DAMMIT!
don't they know this
what has happened to them
this solemn belief in
these petrified lies
of modern living
can they not see this
or do they not care
do they not have that thing
that thread of honesty thing
that tells them
this whole great big thing is
one great big lie
and the truth has
really just been a thief of survival

if you're born into a lie
would you know it
would you question it
and upon questioning it
would you reject it
and upon rejecting it
would you base your life
around that rejection
or would you simply allow it to run the show
no matter how fucked it was

DAMMIT!
the rug has been swept
and left us spineless
lifeless
the few that have
retained their instincts
sent to the alleys like pariahs
staved off and silenced
cuffed and brought into the system
we have been robbed of the good life
hell
we don't even know
what the good life is
or what that would even
look like

nature will run its course
nature will correct all foibles 
nature will teach us what we 
haven't been able to teach ourselves
that we are not the things
beset upon us
stripping us from our costumes
and our costume life
our crowns
our cages
our executions and executioners
our hells... and heavens
the moment we realize
the brief silence in what
we're missing
our precious life

nature
will
prevail

by LORIN DREXLER


Amy Ning

https://amyning.com

Los Angeles, California

Amy Ning was born in Tokyo and moved to Los Angeles with her family in 1973. She studied art at California State University, Long Beach earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Illustration. Her work has been in various publications, product packaging, billboards, film, and children’s books. While an illustrator for the Orange County Register, Amy’s work was honored by the Society for News Design, Print Magazine, and Society of Illustrators, Los Angeles.

Away from her computer, Amy enjoys running, biking, and walking. She is a mother of two sons.


What is Gen Society?

Gen Society is an art space blog for visual art and creative writing collaborations, and other randomizations. Hosted by writer and musician Lorin Drexler, this online venue is an expressive experience for those interested in the world of the arts. It is a poetic journey through the hearts and minds of contemporary artists in practice and a reflection of those that have long passed.

If you’re an artist and would like to submit your work in consideration to collaborate with Gen Society, please click below:

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