Calls to Create — January

taking inspiration from my eyes to use my hands

As I’ve grown into myself (a self that is more creative, sincere, and suspect of “productivity” culture) over these past six months, I’ve started noticing… well, that I’m noticing more. Rather than constantly rushing past life on the way to a Zoom call, I’m taking slower walks, sometimes, and seeing the art around me. There’s inspiration everywhere, constantly offering reminders of why we live through the apocalypse.

As Zohran Mamdani offers us one kind of possibility-model in 2026, I’ve come to appreciate even more deeply the poetic practices of Rama Duwaji. One practice of hers, in particular, speaks to me whenever I encounter it: she collects, monthly, the sights she’s seen of late that inspire her to make art. I’ll borrow that practice here, with gratitude and full credit to her for the concept’s inspiration.

I want to make art in 2026. Lots of it. Messy art, weird art, art in words and pictures and art in movements and gestures. Here’s why I’m feeling that way, so far — presented non-chronologically and with as many or as few notes as I felt like!

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1. Sunsets as seen through traincar windows (Philadelphia)

   

2. Doug Groupp’s mural at 2nd Ave. (Manhattan)

   

   Fuck ICE.

3. This old wooden door, at Karczma (Brooklyn)

   

   The bread bowl I had at this restaurant was a call to create in itself.

4. An impression in the (2.5 feet of) snow atop a bench (South Hadley)

   

   I love little signs that someone has been in a place before me. They remind me, too, that someone will be here or there long after.

5. Vincent Van Gogh’s “Bouquet of Flowers in a Vase” (Manhattan)

   

   The placard beside this painting (credit to The Met’s curators) said that it “has puzzled scholars as to its place in his artistic production,” thanks to a lack of it being mentioned in his letters and a set of traits that might link it to several different eras of his work. I just love the idea of being a curator or critic and “puzzling” over a work like this one, its story. And I love even more the idea, the act, of creating something that cannot quite be placed.

6. This practice (see explanation below; Manhattan)

   

   You’ll notice that #5 above features a scan from The Met’s website, not a photo of the art that I took myself. That’s because, upon my first visit to New York’s storied museum, I made a decision to only photograph the placards describing works, not the works themselves. This way, I could have a record of which pieces spoke to me, but I could also focus more of my attention on the art itself. I do not want to move through life with a phone in hand, colors and textures absorbed into pixels rather than memories. This year, I am going to trust my eyes and my heart more than any machine.

7. The idea that a place can love you back (Philadelphia)

   

8. The act (received) of baking bread for your little cousin (Brooklyn)

   

   All of the bits of inspiration here that come from NYC are, in part, brought to you by my dear cousin Kate, whose hospitality and generosity were so warmly felt as I visited the city I hope to, one day, call home. Also, the bread was very, very good.

9. A dog in a bookstore (Manhattan)

   

   Yu and Me Books was the home to much of my writing this January. I adore their reading room, tea and coffee bar, and whole store! Support them here.

10. François-Xavier Gbré’s “Salle des avocats, Palais de Justice, Cap Manuel, Dakar, 2014” and “Baie de Mermoz #2, Dakar, Sénégal, 2012” (Manhattan)

    

These striking photographs held my attention for some time as I processed all they offer from their position in The Met’s current “View Finding: Selections from The Walther Collection” exhibition. The museum’s placard for these pieces reads, in part, “In Dakar, dirt gathers inside a colonial landmark while freshly poured concrete encroaches on the shore. François-Xavier Gbré’s photographs reveal the architectural ambitions and afterlives of a city in transition.”

11. Someone’s heart drawing in the snow atop a frozen pond (South Hadley)

    

12. The act of buying flowers (Hadley)

    

13. The act of line-editing on paper, by candlelight

    

14. The fact that, really, truly, my best friend is always right.

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Thanks for reading :) More of these coming soon! And, first up:

• At some point, I promise, I will get out that promised essay about 2025 and how it changed me

• I’m going to publish fiction here eventually lol

• An essay about fascism might be the next thing out

• And, hopefully, an updated reading list and/or some lit crit soon

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