If you've never felt that special rush of
joy-and-power-in-creation via your own special talent, I encourage you
to continue to seek the experience. Everyone possesses some unique
quirk, some means of artistry – whether it be aesthetic,
mechanical, interpersonal, scientific, domestic, intellectual
spiritual. Harnessing this power for your own pleasure is one of the
greatest of life's accomplishments. It provides focus and energy and
sustenance in a life so often burdened with inevitable trauma and
tragedy.
True, it would be great to have a talent that is easily visible and
richly rewarded because it brings so much pleasure to so many other
people, but most of us will remain biggish fish in smallish ponds – if
we're lucky enough to achieve THAT much!
That's OK! I, for one, am willing to settle for the thrill of keeping
me and my friends entertained and enlivened. And the more I've
exercised my modest talent, the more friends I have encountered. It's
as if an audience is creating itself while I struggle to bring forth my
words, offering me the opportunity and privilege of further sustaining
it, which, in turn, enhances my own efforts and rewards! It's actually
kind of mystical, this co-evolution of audience, message, messenger . .
. quite mystical!
When I coined the title Friends of Poetry I was stretching things.
There was actually only one other 'Friend' backing my efforts, my then
new friend, Eugene Chovanes, who was willing to help me get my first
public hearing at the Bala Cynwyd Library in December 2004. I remain
forever in his debt for this generous deed. Over the past two years I
have learned that although Eugene is a patent attorney by profession,
he has the heart and soul of an artist. His spirit dances! Here's one
of Eugene's poems, written about his beloved father, a coal miner in
Hazleton, PA
Coal
Anthracite coal
Shiny
Hard
Black
Pop mined you in the dark
He saved the sunshine for me
So many of us owe our "sunshine" to others who labored "in the dark." May we honor our debts by making it
our life goal to spread the light in whatever way we can.
Sincerely,
Arlene