What Theory Alone Could Miss and In the Shade

By Sarah Bilodeau

What Theory Alone Could Miss

 Acrylic: 2011

I encountered a new theory
that sailed me 
to this promising path;
to a glistening shore of possibility.

I started applying this new idea
before it was time to think,
assuming its utility
more often than what was needed.

The theory became a black box
that turned me into a mouse
reeling the corners 
for an exit.

The more I held onto the idea
that certainty equals truth,
the more my clarity vanished.
Until, I could no longer move.

Until a stillness
allowed my eyes 
to decipher 
what was right in front of me.

A crack to push open
that could only be reached
if I paid attention with my senses,
if I took the time to listen	

past these walls
where theory is a ball of string,
thrown around in different directions 
to connect disparate things.

Theory seems to better serve the process 
when it doesn’t stand on its own,
like the dusty boat in the attic
that only steers to a fixed point.

In the Shade

Acrylic: 2019

Insight blooms
from experience and knowledge
while in other moments
it arises from unlearning
what was thought to be known

Sarah Bilodeau is a writer, visual artist, vocalist and registered Dramatherapist. She has exhibited her paintings in London, performed her poems turned into songs in Shanghai and Tokyo and published articles on Dramatherapy with the Nadta and Badth journals.