(Images provided by DWB)
“I live like a poet and I’ll die like a poet.” – Bob Dylan
The person in these pictures is a poet in action.
She’s a poet and she does know it, but she does not show it, at least not in any overt kind of way (or hardly ever).
She’s 18 now, recently graduated from high school (she went to Hemingway’s high school), and she tried the poet clubs and poet readings at the school.
But she couldn’t really stand any of them.
Because she is horrified by any sort of insincerity. She can even feel it approaching before it’s there. For her, insincerity is akin to the proverbial fingernails screeching across a chalkboard. For her, most formal poetry readings and poet gatherings and poet clubs, and so forth, have the same sincerity value as Amber Heard’s testimony at the Johnny Depp trial which she, like her father, could not stand watching because of how blatantly insincere, false, and totally FAKE it obviously was.
(We were watching the trial because we’re Johnny Depp fans, big ones. And even though I couldn’t stand watching Amber make a fool of herself, or maybe because I couldn’t stand watching her make a fool of herself, she reminds me very much (physically included) of someone I once knew (and dated, and almost married), a stage actress and theater professor from Chicago, Illinois, which has more theater than any other place in the country except NYC).
To be a professional academic poet in the USA of today, one has to give professional poetry readings, and attend professional poet gatherings, and join poetry clubs, 99.999% of which have about as much sincerity as the testimony of Amber Heard at the Johnny Depp trial.
Hemingway, as a famous writer, was terrified of formal public speaking, so much so that he rarely, or never, did it.
Bukowski, Hemingway’s most famous direct heir, gave the greatest poetry readings of any poet in American history.
He could hold an audience of hundreds in the palm of his hand for hours. Almost literally.
And yet he hated doing it – hated it unto the death; because he said it made him feel like a fake, a freak, and a fraud.
The person in these pictures is a poet, but she almost never shows it, not in any overt way. (Although if you’re a sensitive human who’s a good judge of character and an artist, or artistically inclined, you may be able to tell it from a single glance.)
Saragun Springs 
I agree so very much with the sentiments expressed here. You don’t, I think, read poetry you feel poetry and it explodes from you. There are two poets, one no longer with us and one who would call himself an actor but who, I don’t believe could deliver lines the way that he does unless he had the soul of a poet.
One is Benjamin Zepahnia – born in Birmingham but I think with his heart elsewhere and with so much emotion Difficult to chose one of his but this is just fun – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHi6wIDaT1Y
And the second, it this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-sM-t1KI_Y and if it doesn’t move you. Shrug!
dd
LikeLiked by 1 person
Diane
These are brilliant clips. Nothing can beat the Thomas poem. I think it was the first truly adult poem that got to me.
Leila
LikeLiked by 1 person
Diane
Thank you so much for introducing me to these! Both these awesome videos show true poets, truly elevated, in a truly authentic way. Inspiring and real in a disheartening era of unreality, proving how personal and human poetry has always been and will always be (even when “they” say it’s been taken over by AI).
Dale
LikeLike
Hi DWB
Tremendous happy image. True poets never know it because of the doubt within. Some call that Impostor’s Syndrome. Maybe so. Better that then to adorn yourself in gimmickry and be an insufferable “artiste.”
Love Johnny, but his taste in women is sometimes dubious. When someone goes bad on one that one must examine her/himself to prevent further debacles. The world keeps going mad, and like at Salem and McCarthy, it can be traced to hysteria and accusation. Everyone looks pretty stupid in the end, yet we never seem to learn. Such things demean the people who have actually been abused, because others can say, “Yeah, but look at the Depp case.” Behaving badly because that is the popular thing to do is extremely unworthy of everyone.
Great stuff again.
Leila the ! free
LikeLike
LA
I recently found out that E. Jean Carroll hung out with Hunter S. Thompson AND wrote a biography of him. She hung out with him while he drove 90 on mountain roads in the dark with the lights off while smoking weed and snorting coke. And the book she wrote about him was written to celebrate, not denigrate, him.
Here is a woman who knows what to do about all the sexual abuse, etc., and who wrote: “Never let them steal your joy.” In a recent interview with the Daily Beast on you tube she seems like the female reincarnation of none other than Hunter S. Thompson himself, in a good way. And she’s 82 years old. Amazing energy, humor, and bravery!
Being an “artiste” is the worst thing I can think of (almost). Being an artist, or even becoming a work of art yourself, which Nietzsche said is the final step of a great artist, is another matter entirely.
From what he admitted at the trial, Johnny D. was drinking and doing a lot of drugs when he hooked up with Amber. Probably clouded his judgement (not probably, I would think). I hope he learned his lesson. As far as Amber, God bless her she has Borderline Personality Disorder if she has anything.
Thanks…(Using the ellipsis to indicate ongoingness in light of exclamation point self-consciousness…(!))
DB
LikeLike
Dale
I think the loss of wild mountain rides is what did HST in. He was very much a kindred spirit of the not going out with a wimper. Funny thing there, if he had thought longer, checking out that way, though his right, was not necessarily a brave thing to do as it was the final step in a process that requires more resolve than philosophy.
But he did go his own and far be it from me to deny it.
Leila
LikeLike
Wonderful, wonderful clip of Michael Sheen reading Dylan Thomas. Great poem spoken by a great actor – he’s played Christ, Brian Clough and David Frost, I’d love to see him play Dylan Thomas. bw mick
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Mick
First, ashamed to say, I have heard of Mr. Sheen, but his reading is extraodinary. It leaps off the screen and brings Thomas alive.
Leila
LikeLike
Dead right, Leila. I’m guessing he has a strong affinity with Thomas: Sheen is from Port Talbot, just a few miles from Thomas’ Swansea.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Dale
That’s a great picture of your daughter and Boo! They have almost the same happy expression. You can tell there is no insincerity there–just great friendship.
I once got invited to read a poem that was surprisingly accepted by the University of Buffalo. They even sent me two copies of the book, which I managed to lose one, maybe the other one too. I didn’t go–too far–but I always sort of wish I would have.
I don’t have much experience in the poetic circles, but they sound pretty superficial. There’s a great movie called “Wonder Boys” with Micheal Douglas and Toby Maguire about literary academics. I think they broach this topic well in it. RIP Torn is also in the movie.
Christopher
LikeLike
Christopher
Thank you and Happy Halloween!
Part of the message with all of the dog photos is that the simplest things are still the most profound. Which makes them the most joyful. That was true when we humans were cave people; and it is still true today, if only we can keep our eyes open. One doesn’t need to drown in a deluge of useless consumer products in order to be happy and satisfied. On the contrary: drowning in a deluge of useless consumer products delivered by greedy Jeff Bezos and his minions is likely to leave one unhappy and dissatisfied. To anyone who works for him, sorry I called you his minions.
It doesn’t surprise me that you were invited to the University of Buffalo. It’s a school with a formerly great reputation as a writing school. I here make a prediction that that will not be the last time you are invited to read your work somewhere. And far from it.
Thanks again! I saw the Wonder Boys film in the theater when it came out and remember it as hilarious. Great song in it by Mr. Bob Dylan, too!
Dale
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Dale
Yes dogs have been with us and for us and us for them for a long time. Dogs are family that make being human–wonderful.
I hate how dogs are treated and consumed in the orient–especially Korea and all the other places. This is a terrible betrayal going on in the world–ad infinitude.
Thanks so much on the poem!
Christopher
LikeLike