They say Sappho may have been a kind of prostitute, at least some of the time. They say the same thing about Mary Magdalen. I can believe it, although I can’t say that I know it. If they were prostitutes, I know they did it with the same flair for originality with which they did everything else. ’Nuff said on that topic.
Because I don’t know if Sappho was a prostitute; but I do know that she said this:
“It is the Muses //
Who have caused me /
to be honored: they /
taught me their craft.”
Survival is the first art. You can’t create art when you’re dead, at least not here. Many artists have not created any real art because they have died inside. They have let the world kill them; or they have handed the world the sword it needed to do the deed. Survival is the first art, the hardest art, the longest art, and the last art of all. Without it, you simply cannot get anything done.
Learning the craft is the second art. Reading and writing must be mixed with equal parts real experience or it ain’t worth (and it won’t ever be worth) shit.
The third art is doing it. You find out that you thought you were doing it all along but you were not doing it all along, and far from it. You were doing what can be called “getting ready to do it.” Which is just as crucial, because you can’t do it eventually without the proper preparation.
Staying alive; learning how to; and doing it right when the right time arrives.
Never question The Muses, even in those moments when you know (somehow) they’re full of it. They are holy, and that’s all you need to know to keep you going, even if you enter the phase of “afterglow,” which is the fourth phase (if it ever comes) in which you can’t exactly do it any more but now you can bask in it. Many who think they are “going” are really just stuck down in the herd muck; running very successfully on the hamster wheel, as it were and is. It takes balance to stay on the hamster wheel, but it isn’t going anywhere. And that is nothing against hamsters; it is only to point out that they aren’t lionesses and lions. And it is absurd to pretend that they are. Even in a fake mane – he’s still a hamster. Even at the highest rungs. Even in the White House (or anywhere else they tell you is important, like the end of the hall where your boss resides).
END NOTE: Endless thank you/s to Mary Barnard (1909 – 2001), who made the translation of Sappho used in this commentary. Her translations possess an Emily Dickinson-like intimacy and idiosyncrasy which must also be contained, in a different way, in the fragments of Sappho.
Dale Barrigar
Saragun Springs 
Hello Dale
Give history enough time and everyone will be a whore. Queen Liz, Eleanor Roosevelt. It will stand as a comeuppance in some eyes, an honor in others.
Funny how our race has often evolved into accepting homosexuality and Lesbianism. And we always back slide into ignorance. I have never believed that God was against it but people used the churches as weapons. It has never been anyone’s business, but the world remains uptight. And compared to backwards places run by fundamentalist beards The West is Ancient Greece in many ways (at least the idealized version).
Sappho is the first great woman writer, and although most of her stuff is lost she survived to get some of her work as good as forever. Survival, as you say, is the key to art!
Leila
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Thank you, LA
I have more essays-and-pictures about Sappho planned for the future. At this point, I’d like to write at least ten different pieces on her; twenty would be even better!
But I have a lot of plans like that, and there isn’t time to bring them all to fruition.
What I do know for sure is that I’ll write at least a few more about her and make it a handful at minimum. (That’s the plan for now, anyway.)
She survives almost entirely in fragments and, weirdly, her fragments, when translated into English, very very very very very very much resemble modern free verse in English.
It is an exceedingly happy fate for her and I can’t help thinking something inside her did not know the exact details but did know she would still be around this many centuries later. When Jesus was born, she’d already been around for hundreds of years.
DB
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Wise words. Survival is the first art. So true.
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Hi David
Yes. And alive on the outside yet dead on the inside is probably the worst fate of all, and a condition which our society currently seems to be producing more and more and more (and more) of.
Dale
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Hi DWB
It’s like stepping into a classroom–one that you really enjoy.
These words of Sappho and your words–the art of survival.
I think about life and this writing life. Sometimes, I say to myself at odd intervals. “You should quit writing,” then other times, “Don’t stop writing.”
Your analogy of the hamster ending up in the white house is hilarious. A great and cutting remark! Also the lion’s mane on the hamster is awfully funny too, aka paper tigers and such, but underneath is truth. I liked how you pointed out the successful hamster too…Guess I’m stuck on this wonderful hamster analogy.
It’s great that you have introduced me to Sappho. You are helping others to expand their minds, so thank you!
CJA
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Hi CJA
Caught a typo for you. In case you wonder what happened. Replaced steeping with stepping.Always great comments by you.
LA
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Hi Leila
Good. I hate typos. A constant enemy, lol. Thanks.
CJA
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