with fear and courage and rage...
Grace Paley
1922-2007
You become a writer because you need to become a writer - nothing else.
23.8.07
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“We all need discipline.”
about me
- sam of the ten thousand things
- the milky way
- Sam Rasnake, a sardonic twist of fate, is a pathetic excuse for a poet who once dreamed he was a human who dreamed he was a teacher who thought he could play guitar. Along the way - a soul-mate, two children - one collection, Necessary Motions; three chapbooks, Religions of the Blood, Lessons in Morphology, and Inside a Broken Clock. He even thinks he edits a magazine - Blue Fifth Review.
what's in my head...
Motel Chronicles
Sam Shepard
Necessary Motions
(Sow's Ear Press)
Out of print, but may be purchased from the author.
collections
Religions of the Blood
(Pudding House Press)
In print and may be ordered from the publisher.
Lessons in Morphology
(GOSS183) - part of the MiPOesias Chapbook Series
Inside a Broken Clock
(Finishing Line Press)
In print and may be ordered from the publisher.
6 comments:
I don't think you become a writer.
I think you either are a writer.
Or you're not.
Is compulsion the same thing as need?
I don't need to write.
I just do.
It's like that magic trick. The magician pulling the never-ending stream of scarves out of his sleeve.
That's how it feels to me.
Sometimes, most of the time, I'm not even pulling.
That stream of scarves just flows out.
I agree with you regarding your response to the Hall quote.
I do too; I write because I write.
There's no goal.
I posted that quote mostly because I feel so directionless regarding my writing.
So goal-less.
That constant drip drip drip in the bucket, and for what?
To pour it out and fill it back up again, word by word, line by line, poem by poem?
Nothing solid, nothing real ever materializes. Because I don't aspire.
I'm trying to figure out why.
Maybe when you're not pulling the scarves is when your'e engaged in the real work. It comes on its own.
Great poems seem to me to be works that are judged by the outside world. Bishop, I don't think, decided one night to write a great poem - and I don't think she wrote her poems for an audience. I think she wrote out of need - but, maybe it is compulsion. Machine-like, though not in a negative way... but as in beyond control.
I tend to wonder if Kenyon would agree with Hall on that point. I sort of doubt it. But, he sees the world as he sees the world.
My view is that the goal is the work itself, the process. I can't write if I'm focused on the product. Deciding to write a great poem today is too much like punching a clock.
You're probably right about either you are or are not a writer.
Interesting thoughts though.
I think some people become writers out of circumstance, but I also believe many people are just born to do it. I know I was. From a very early age, it's all I ever wanted to do. I do need to write. I must.
Thanks for the comment, Collin.
I just like to make things--if not a poem or a paragraph in a story, then curtains, or a sky-high meringue, or a 100-bead bracelet. For me, making (plus revising) is essential to the whole process, like Penelope's unravel and ravel.
Poesis
Thanks for the comment, Pamela. The making of things, the process - sounds as thought that is the need.
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