The Many Faces With a Frown

Not all frowns are alike, they differ radically, depending on the face they’re expressed on. Certain foods – liver, lima beans, brussel sprouts, and okra – produce immediate reactionary frowns. With the arts, the reaction is similar though often not as predictable or explosive. A Picasso cubist portrait in all its tortuous angularities is a good candidate. Or a splattered Jackson Pollock. Is it a painting or a mess? Opinions differ. A giant blah monochromatic Rothko will bring on a frown superimposed with a veil of bewilderment – and have you questioning the very raison d’être of art itself! Lastly, and a sure face-frowner, and my personal favorite by-the-way, is when I’m asked what I do for a living and I say I’m a writer, and smiling with excitement they ask: what kind? Poetry, I answer proudly. Words cannot describe the sudden avalanche of disappointment that blurs the face, and raise eyebrows to the skull’s hairline, the sudden drop of the mouth, and the frantic need for an excuse or exit to get away!