Subject: Re: poem because I don't know what else to do...
From: Tim O'Connor (oconnort@nyu.edu)
Date: Sat Sep 15 2001 - 11:50:47 GMT
On Sat, Sep 15, 2001 at 10:17:30AM +0800, Will Hochman wrote:
> I'll be the first to admit the poem I sent was not "good art" in a
> traditional sense (though I've improved it since and I believe it
> will eventually be published) but I will continue to believe that art
> can be a vital element in our lives and is essential in times like
> these...
The important thing to do with "art" -- public or private, political
or not -- is to keep doing it, keep at it. To me, "Dear God, Life is
Hell" speaks volumes about the human condition. Is it public or
private "art"? Certainly, the "low-level Nazi official" was writing
it privately, but by virtue of its being found as Nazi booty it became
in a sense a public statement about the war, however unintentional.
I hope you will keep at it and never, ever, fall victim to the
writer's greatest foe, thin-skinnedness.
I myself, in episodes, I think, of mania, have posted messages here
that contained snippets of "poetry" (or, in a tip of the hat to
Franny, "syntactical droppings") that remained kindly unremarked upon.
They of course had no place in this venue, and I can only guess at
what possessed me to post them publicly, but I thank the kindness of
fellow readers here for not flaying me to the bone for my own
clumsiness, which far exceeded anything you or anyone else might have
done.
Someone once gave me a T-shirt from a film festival held in NYC each
year that showed a horse holding a banner aloft, and the banner said,
"ART IS HARD"; all I can say to that, aside from "Amen," is "...and
it takes perseverence." So, we persevere. Sometimes we have results
to show. More often, we have only our ambition to excel as our
results. So, what do we do? If we are writers, we write, and as Kurt
Vonnegut once said, "all the rest is gossip."
> "For Esme`--With Love and Squalor" will always speak to me
> about the effects of violence and the need for healing love. New York
> needs thousands of Esme`s, the world needs us all, will
Indeed we do. Just keep your notebook open and up to date, and always
keep trying. We owe it to ourselves and to each other.
--tim
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