This is a great one, and it is quite similar to where I am at.
I don't think, Dominic or Kent, that a poet should sit down somewhere and
_poeticize_. Friedrich Nietzsche taught (the greatest poet of all), together
with Baudelaire (greatest as well) who did his best to survive (estates,
inheritances, plenty of intrigues). There is no such profession as a poet,
and I would even say as a writer, unless you are a journalist. Tolkien
taught and wrote, Wittgenstein didn't even want his part of inheritance - he
was present whey they read his father's will (if I am not wrong, the man who
sponsored the Austrian secession - Martin am I right?) to make sure he
wasn't going to receive a penny - and ended up in a tiny village as an
elementary teacher, somewhere close to here.
Not only because you need money to live, but because there is a nobility in
performing your daily job (my father taught me), and also because you draw
your life from the world outside. Who am I to talk of my I _ endlessly? And
moreover, to desire that those there, the ones who are not I should love
what I write about my I? Oh this is a farse. Not even my silliest teen
student would be able to invent it.
I have no idea, there are subsidies here too for those who write, and one of
the people who manage them told me to fill in a form and put it in, - it
might be that some rains on you too, he said. Which I didn't do. For many
reasons. First of all I am free to write whatever I wish and whenever I wish
and this is my privilege and my liberty.
Rebecca's question is different. She received a prize. If they award me a
prize I thank them respectfully and I'm deeply moved that they liked what I
had to say.
Anny Ballardini
http://annyballardini.blogspot.com
http://www.fieralingue.it/modules.php?name=poetshome
The aim of the poet is to awaken emotions in the soul, not to gather
admirers.
Stalker, Andrei Tarkovsky
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, January 20, 2005 6:47 PM
Subject: Re: down with the down with poetry crowd
Figure-Ground Problem
In my world all the poetry is excellent.
There are only two journals to read, one
in print and the other on the web. Both are
filled with excellent poetry. The editors
have never rejected my excellent work.
And I've never been to a reading I didn't enjoy.
You see, I know all of the poets in my world
and they know me. We can't help but admire
each other’s commitment to excellence.
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