Sunday, October 25, 2009

Lines from Keats & Yeats, Bukowski & Berryman (do the two pairs share any analogies?) are floating in my head. It is the sort of day where I feel like taking a leaf out of one of their books; namely, shutting the blinds and reading from all of their books, committing to memory everything that possesses that intangible beauty that is synonymous with the form. What makes these brief arrangements of words (rhyming or not) so addictive, I'll never know. I would like to say it help me understands life, but one can never be sure. I can certainly say it makes the journey far more bearable - it is almost as if the mere act of reading a powerful line gives one access to a secret incantation, known only to a few, one which can be used in times of duress to keep at bay the ever-present madness that beckons, and to guide our feet away from the void that surrounds.

2 comments:

Chris said...

When you're ready, dive into the void and fill it with rainbows and diamonds and frogs! Or whatever suits your fancy. Void = untouched. Once you be confident, you feareth it not. You free to make what you want of it.

I can't wait to (eventually) read some Bukowski. Quite a reputation, no?

AKM said...

That's one way to look at it, I suppose :-) I don't think it's quite the sense I was using the word in, but I see your point. I must say that as much as I believe in the light that never goes out, I equally believe in the darkness. Not that "life is hell" or anything like that, but there are seasons bearing suffering. If you disagree, I will greatly admire your optimism, for it is far removed from how I saw things when I was similarly interested in figuring out how the world ticks :-) (How is the quest coming along, by the way?)

Dude, Bukowski is the man (in a certain sense). He is utterly insane though. Like, utterly. By far the most removed from one's image of a poet as is possible. Check out some of his videos on YouTube, he is out of control.

I am enjoying this real-time exchange between us, by the way! (If you read this much later, check out the timestamps :-))