 |
 |
Fear as friend or foe Fear as ‘friend’ is a good subject of poetry, a handy motif, or an emotive experience. Fear as ‘foe’ in poetry - writer’s block, fear of failure, and fear of not being read or heard. Most writers of poetry, however love the art, love language, the force of the word, pushing boundaries, finding oneself - not just “look what has happened to me, but look what has happened to you and I.” As Gertrude Stein said, “I write for myself and strangers.” You write about the way someone once walked across your heart/and your blood’s not red/but green/and you can’t feel the weight of your hand/they’re cupped and thin/you’re yellow and smiling in blue mirrored thoughts/you’ll wait for his call/ the cut of his hair/swirling in silence/you choose a red dress/remember the kiss/the wet of his lips /a thump on the brick/that terrible bell/the yellow of fear/the woman next door. Gertrude Stein was an iconoclast and first of the post-modernists. The playful, subversive nature of her poetry like 'Tender Buttons' abandoned the strictures of punctuation. She kept language in a constant state of flux. Writers who choose to be the innovative artist, can take heart by Gertrude Stein’s example as a woman who wrote poetry without fear of failure. So, it must follow that fearlessness empowers and in having no fear one can progress in art, move forward without censorship, restriction, subjugation of voice, and confinement of old traditions. To go in fear of rejection also empowers. The rejection slip is the marathon you have to run. The training ground for the pen. Its movement improves/disproves the standards set by others. The hard workers will get the banquet; the lazy will get the crumbs. No hierarchical powers like editors or publishers will dampen passion, commitment, love for the art and the joy and energy that comes with writing. Australian author, Robert Dessaix (Night Letters) once said at a Bussleton Writers Festival, ‘With writing, if you’re enjoying yourself that is all that matters and success will follow.’ Helen Hagemann © 2001 _________________________________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.