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Thursday 10 January 2013

Artists Beware...

Be careful what you write,
be careful what you draw,
the world with which you start,
the world you leave behind
are there in every word
and there in every line.

Stay with the everyday?
You will transcend the known
It is as though we live
in each of these two worlds
and every line and word
reflects the truth of each --
or if not, misses both.

13 comments:

kelvin s.m. said...

...Indeed...we take full responsibility to whatever we say or do... But then no matter how good or clear our intention was...the end result would always fall on the way people understand & interpret the word/s they heard...no one controls the situation better than its creator... It's really nice to think of all these with your poem sir... Very apt to what i've just been through lately... smiles...

Brian Miller said...

if you are prepared to write....be ready for the consequences you know....every word will be measured and judged....and they wont read it the same as you do...

Tabor said...

Good caution. I just wrote about two worlds today.

Janine Bollée said...

Not to mention being scrutinized by the various government bodies.
And yes, body language is a vital element of communication, sadly absent in online versions.
As it seems is an absence of sense of humour.
I have been hurt a few times since I started blogging. Too thin-skinned may be? Or not au fait with the endless permutations endlessly varied people can assign to the written word.
As usual your lines are pithy and to the point.
[If you get my meaning. I am getting scared now :-)

ND Mitchell said...

Definitely true that you should weigh up your words. The pen is mightier than the sword:-)

Manicddaily said...

Wonderful poem. I appreciate your wise words. My big struggle lately is that I really feel like a prose writer - novelist - but have very little time, and have been doing so much blogging and poetry because of the immediacy of (i) completing a draft of sorts; and (ii) getting something out into the world. There is also so much support in the internet poetry world. But I feel like the words I want to leave (if anyone will care) are involved with stories and narrative. I have to figure it out. Thanks. k.

Mary said...

My interpretation is that we have two different worlds...our physical world and the world we enter when we write. There is a flow back and forth. I am one who believes that every poem is 'about' the writer in some way even if he/she tells what he/she says the poem is fiction. The poet is there somewhere.....

Tommaso Gervasutti said...

Great poem with a very peculiar and so true, final line.

Elephant's Child said...

Only two worlds? Many, many more - not least the one that the viewers and readers bring into play.

Dave King said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Dave King said...

Kelvin
Thanks for this. You raise an interesting question: that of the artist's interpretation V that of others. I must say that I am not too bothered when others see my poems differently, think they say something other than I thought they said, etc. But some do, of course.

Brian
Absolutely. Once you put pen to paper you are exposed.

Tabor
It's very economical to be able to write about them both at the same time, though, don't you think?

aprille
I can relate to this. It is scary. One of the scariest experiences, I think, is when something you have written is taken as auto-biography just because it is written in the first person. That always worries me slightly.

ND Mitchell
And more dangerous! Thanks and welcome to the blog.

Manicddaily
This is exactly how I got started. I began with stories and novels, then started this blog to write ABOUT poetry and art, not to write creatively, but bit by bit the change came about. I feel gripped now by the immediacy -- and now there's another pull towards poetry and away from novels: old age and failing concentration spans!

Mary
Yes, I think I agree, but I think the two worlds are reflections of each other.

Tommaso
Thanks for this. I certainly would have settled for it when I posted.

The Elephant's Child
Ah, I wondered if someone would pick this up! I'm so glad you did. I do agree, but me vision's limited, Mum!




Ygraine said...

Gosh!
I hadn't realised how transparent our inner beings are...think I'll double check everything I write from now on.
Thanks for the timely warning, Dave!! *chuckles*

Claudia said...

this is so interesting...i think it always comes in different layers and we see one, we feel another, we write another down and together it gives the picture..however true it might be