Being a poet and writer can be difficult. I wouldn’t trade it for anything, but it can be both a blessing and a curse for it is something that lives within you, yet divides your time with the world. The obvious answer to settle such a dilemma would be to abandon it altogether in favor of other pursuits but that is nearly impossible when it is embedded, literally, in your blood.
When I had my DNA processed, the results showed the family trees I connected to. I was astounded at the many authors, artists, musicians, and teachers in my family tree. My brother and daughter are both artists. My son and I are musicians. I also write poetry, historical fiction, and nonfiction, and teach in the Special Education field. When you have those characteristics in your DNA, there is a natural inclination to move in those directions because that is the passion that moves you. However, aside from teaching, those are the hardest markets to break into, so it requires many writers, musicians, and artists to have regular jobs while we work on our craft on the side.
I tried to stop writing for about a year, and I thought I would go mad. It was just too hard to try and write when I was so exhausted by the end of the work day. Weekends were spent trying to recover to face the next week. By the end of that year I was depressed because I had not been writing at all. I learned a lot from that year of pen-abstinence. I understood why many poets and writers of the past suffered from depression if they were unable to write or get their work out. We are told as a society, that for the best mental health we should always express what is inside that has us troubled so that it can be processed. This can happen in various ways and when we feel ready to do so, such as meditation, prayer, and when needed, therapy. When it comes to artistic gifts it is the same. It doesn’t matter if you are a writer, musician, photographer, crafter, or any talent that causes you to create from your mind…those inspirations must be expressed until they become the visual manifestation of what is in the creator’s mind and heart. When that doesn’t happen it becomes a dying hope, an open wound that never heals until the work is realized.
These were the thoughts in my mind when I wrote the poem, Third Party. Truly, a writer/artist has one foot in one world and one foot in another twenty-four hours a day. It doesn’t matter if one only takes ten minutes a day to write…just do it, because abandoning those thoughts that come naturally robs the world of some value. Who knows how many volumes, verses, and hymns have been taken to the grave; buried forever.
A poet can never be owned by anyone
They have one foot in this world
And one foot in another
Every single day
Even a lover must expect
Their companion’s absence
For they have been claimed already
Inspired away
By thoughts that must be attended to
And passion that must be expressed
Thus, if you marry a poet
I have to say
Do expect there to be three
In your life together
For the poet will always be there
Every day,
Every single day