Saturday, November 26, 2005

What if...
by Robert G Parent

This article came about when I started pondering on an idea that Will
at "Cloudy Day Art" mentioned in his November 21, 2005 show.

What if my backpack with all my poetry in it fell into a river, would
I jump in after it and risk my life for my poetry?

To answer this, I remember a show from the 70's series "Northern
Exposure" where Maurce told Holling that his paint by number was not
real art. This disturbed and troubled Holling so much that he went to
Chris (the artist of the community.) He told Holling that he was too
close to the finished product. Chris said art was all about the
process. Then, he told Holling that he/himself had to burn the
current painting he did. After, Holling did feel a release and the
creativity began to flow again because he did not have Maurce's words
in his head, which fueled the ego, which is also the killer of
creativity.

Poetry (and all writing for that matter) is about that -- the process
. The shear act of writing changes us. I would see something
happening to my poetry as a sign that I was too close to the finished
product, to the past writing I've done. This is how a writer becomes
stagnate. Writers have to keep trying something new with their craft.
They have to keep breaking new ground and keep seeing with a new eye,
or in a new light. This is also a tip to help writers edit their
works -- put their writing away for awhile and come back to it and
see it in a new light.

However, as i write the last paragraph, I should tell you that I keep
my poetry in a thumb drive with me all the time. I also have it
backed up in many places. Why do I do this?
There is another show I'll reference -- "The Language of Life with
Bill Moyers." In that show, Bill interviewed a woman who had fought
in an army -- I can't remember the country. She told Bill that she
took half of her food out of her backpack to make room for her poetry
notebooks because she said that if she died someone would find her
poetry and read it. Her poetry would be shared by others. That is
why I keep my poetry with me, to be read and listened to by others.
That is why I started a podcast, even though when I started podcasting
was called audio blogging.

So I'm back to the river, my backpack fell in, do I go in and retrieve
it? Well, if I did my job well, I don't need to go in because I have
shared my poetry with others, it is out there in multiple places and
forms, and I have learnt all I needed to in writing it. Here is
another thought I believe: You never lose what you've learnt, the
knowledge and wisdom from doing something. Even if (I also believe)
disease takes your body because it is now in your soul's knowledge.
It is said to go forth and multiply. I believe that gaining knowledge
and wisdom are a part of that definition.
Duration: 7 minutes


MP3 File

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