Sunday, November 02, 2008

Stanley Kunitz on being a poet.

"poets are not easily domesticated...and they can be outrageous; but they are also idealists and visionaries whose presence is needed to clear the air of corruption and hypocrisy, and to mock oppression, and to challenge spiritual apathy."

I read this in an article by William Ayers, who also calls on teachers/scholars/citizens/artists/students/intellectuals/researchers/writers to be like this.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Of course, these days, the corrupt, hypocritical oppressors have discovered some new tactics (or made the old ones more effective) for 'domesticating' people. Debt, mainstream media fear machines, and mass distraction are powerful tools in apathy creation. It's hard to wake the sleeping mind and rise to our full(er) potential when we are too scared or broke to turn off the programming.

cara said...

good point(s).
but there will always be new tactics to resist new codes to decipher.
we just have to keep shaking ourselves awake from the apathy.
or is it nihlism?

Anonymous said...

I don't believe in nihilism.

=P

cara said...

lol.

Lorne Roberts said...

cool. i agree that everybody needs to be like this, and not just poets, since goodness knows poets participate in their own fair share of corruption, hypocrisy, opression, and spiritual apathy.

Anonymous said...

That first line gets me a little revved up.

Some of the most incredible art is made when an artist is not comfortable, like hungry or poor or lonely. But...I'd argue that even when one is domesticated, the creative act can still be incredible.

Adapting is key to survival, and domesticating is about change, and really about making use of oneself .Not a bad thing at all.

I'm fervently spiritual about domestication!