What does it mean to be a poet? To me, it doesn’t really have anything to do with actually writing poetry. Writing poems is an important activity associated with being a poet, but is not the essence of it, at least from my vantage point. The essence of being a poet comes from a refusal to forget certain things. Namely, the refusal to forget that all the other hats people put on are just hats. The business man puts on his business hat and becomes serious about business. But the poet knows, that’s just a hat, that the person underneath is not fundamentally a serious business person any more than the actor on stage is fundamentally Romeo. When people forget that they play a particular role, and could play many others instead, they become serious about things in a way a poet does not and cannot. A poet can play the same roles, and often does play those roles well, but will not be fundamentally serious about them as anything other than a role. This is the essence of being a poet, as I
see it now.
There are a few different styles of messages that I want to send: tweets, blogs, stories (a la Snapchat), vlogs, podcasts (short/long). I wish this blog could house all of them and make it possible for friends/family to easily follow updates.
Todo