Despite the masks and the gloves and the hand sanitizer, I have been touched (metaphorically) by the boon in creativity. Everyone seems to be thinking outside the box. Has this creativity always been on the back burner just waiting for someone to turn up the heat? Or has more leisure time afforded those who are already creatively inclined to stretch their wings?

T.C. Smythe and Gary Taylor  keep their distance yet entertain the neighbors.

Covid-19 and social distancing seem to have brought about a “Hell No! I’m here!

You can shut me in, but you can’t shut me up.”

It is very exciting. The world-at-large seems to be alive with  burgeoning creativity, but the impulse to create is not just a big city phenomenon. Hardly a day goes by when I don’t receive a poem from my friends at Shavano Poets, Salida, CO. They are prolific, and their poems are on fire.

I love the melding of art and politics. If I had the talent, my dream job would have been as a political cartoonist.

I have never been a fan of Donald Trump, and with every passing month I respect him less. He seems to have no moral core. He will say whatever he thinks his fan base wants to hear. His end game is to win the next election, whatever the cost. Do we really want a game player playing at President?

My grandson Jackson Jimenez, nearly two. What’s not to love?

I have always tried to acknowledge that the diversity of We the People is our strength. As for those with whom I disagree, I try to imagine them as babies or  in their childhood. They are beautiful two-year-old’s. With that frame-of-reference to center me, I can be generous with those with whom I disagree. But Trump tires my patience and defies my efforts to humanize him. Every political move he makes hardens my heart. And like a virus, my dislike of Trump spreads to include everyone of the far side of the cultural divide.

UNTIL… and I love this part because I may not agree with my friend’s take on President Trump, but I find her interpretation intriguing.

My friend, Helga Schmidt is an artist who lives in London. She primarily does huge, abstract pencil drawings, but occasionally, she works in color. I am eternally grateful to Helga for introducing me to a good number of artists and studios during our London years.

A couple of days ago, I found myself thinking about a painting of Trump that Helga had exhibited at a gallery show. It was a memorable portrait in that the subject was definitely Trump, but he was encased in a heart. In a heart!! The man without a heart encased in a heart?

So I wrote to her. Would she send me a photo of the painting; what was the title of the painting; and what was she thinking when she painted it? The title of the painting is “Twisted Heart.” Helga’s prompt was a picture of a dog statue in China that was posted in 12/30/2017 GUARDIAN just prior to Year of the Dog. Looking at the statue, Helga saw a resemblance to Trump.

As to what she was thinking when she painted the portrait, Helga wrote, “I felt pity with the new American President and thought, that he just wanted to be loved – like everybody.”

Fascinating! “He just wants to be loved.” Something to think about. And if I can only imagine President Trump and his flock of true believers as two-year-old’s – playing with my grandson in a sandbox, maybe I can feel the love.

OK. Not love. Certainly not love. Maybe I can be more generous.

I’m getting silly now. To the left we have Jackson – off to the sandbox where he’ll play with Trump and Trump’s friends. Maybe if Trump becomes president, Jackson will be appointed Secretary of State.