Seek those (themes) which your everyday life offers you; describe your sorrows, desires, passing thoughts and belief in some sort of beauty.
Describe all these with loving, quiet, humble sincerity and use to express yourself, the things in your environment, the images from your dreams, and the objects of your memory.
If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself. Tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches. For to the creator there is no poverty and no poor, indifferent place.
Perhaps it will turn out that you are called to be an artist. Then take that destiny upon yourself and bear it, its burden and its greatness, without ever asking what recompense might come from outside.
Your life will in any case find its own ways thence. That they may be good, rich and wide I wish you more than I can say.
Quotations taken from Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke, translation by M.D. Herter Norton
All images were captured in the woods that surrounds our home.
So true, poetry cannot be taught.
ReplyDeleteIt must be heartfelt & true.
Your photos are so sharp & clear. What camera are you using?
Let's correct that... I neglected my punctuation & it doesn't read right. It's not my strong point anyway, I just use it for effect.
ReplyDeleteHere goes:
So true, poetry cannot be taught.
It must be heartfelt.
And true.
Feeling a little compulsive in the wee hours. Ah. much better :-)
For photos I use a little Fuji digial (about the size of a credit card, only fatter) - nothing fancy. I will confess that if the photos are a little blah I sharpen them a bit in Corel Photo Paint.
ReplyDelete