GAS Featured Artist and Poet: Cierra G. Rowe

Cierra G. Rowe is an artist, painter and poet. As an artist, her work is unapologetic, carrying depth and raw expression. As a poet, her writing holds the same but in a more clarified way; being pure and unfiltered. She is firm in her belief that art, in all forms, should not be dictated by audience but rather that it must remain as an unbound act of expression. 

MOONSHINE

by Cierra G. Rowe

I will fight it tooth and nail
And in the end it won't prevail.
Candles, sunshine, stars and lamps;
The darkness won't get through.

Not used to coping in this way,
Nowhere to run from this pain
but deep inside I hear a voice;
''The darkness won't get through.''

I'm writing this to try and show,
try to mend, try to grow,
It's so hard to let go.
The darkness won't get through.

Around me, your presence swirls;
Your smile and your soft curls,
Your spirit in the skies and moon,
The darkness won't get through.

I know you never went away.
I can see you on some days.
I can hear you too.
The darkness won't get through.

Your strength trickled down to me,
Through time and birth and agony.
I'm standing and I feel you.
The darkness won't get through.

I will fight this punch by kick.
I won't let the sadness stick.
''Lord have mercy'', it's so hard.
The darkness won't get through.

On sunny days, you're around.
On rainy days, you're around.
I know you're not gone.
The darkness won't get through.

We keep in touch in special ways,
from time to time on random days.
It's not enough but that's ok.
The darkness won't get through.

Take a beating and learn to fight.
learn to crawl then learn to thrive.
Laugh and cry and dry those eyes,
The Darkness won't get through.

I really miss you.

Artist Bio: 

I grew up in a sleepy, southern, one-stoplight town. Having always been naturally artistic — as I matured, so too did my closeness to painting. This inherent passion has always compelled me to paint without boundaries. My art is driven by a complex combination of emotion, sensitivity and vulnerability. Speaking through brushstrokes, my paintings are filled with depth and meaning. As an outsider artist and someone who is intensely consumed by her work, I have not sought to fit anyone's mold. This firm rejection of ideals and modern archetypes is influenced by fragments of my background. Throughout adolescence, I dealt with private anxieties and a burgeoning awareness of reality, in solitude. I had no intention of seeking approval to exist or permission to become an artist. This seclusion and rebellion led to me throwing myself into painting and poetry. As an artist, the most important thing to me is remaining authentic. My earliest art has paved the way for present compositions. Throughout painting, I have often embraced change; shedding what was for what is; allowing my art to narrate metamorphosis. I dislike the exactness of forms and I find solace through painting things in my own way. I have no control in how viewers interpret my paintings. Most works of art have their mysteries; It is stimulating to feel as though you understand them — through gazing into them.

Insatiable

Spirit

 

Cannibal