“Never use the word ‘audience.’ The very idea of a public, unless a poet is writing for money, seems wrong to me. Poets don’t have an “audience”: They’re talking to a single person all the time.”
–Robert Graves, from the Paris Review, The Art of Poetry No. 11
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an exquisite quote
Mr. Graves was full of them for sure.
Good to see you Paul.
He was writing before the internet, eh?
Yes. I write for me (the audience of one). But also for anyone who may stumble across my writing out there some day in the information swamp.
You said it Alice.
I was just thinking this is a hell of a thing for a WordPresser to post!
🙂
It’s conflicting, isn’t it?
I vacillate almost constantly these days between a desire to get work published “for real” in magazines, etc. and a need for feedback/validation.
Blogging seems sometimes (at least for me as a poet) like one part creative outlet (without real critique) and one part therapy (without a real therapist).
Beats having a nervous breakdown.
Intriguing post…makes me think of Emily D. Would love to know….
Yes–makes me think also of Vivian Maier:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_Maier
I can’t but wonder: is this what art really is? Creation for creation’s sake…alone?
Sans audience. Sans concern for the eyes/ears/opinions of others?
Does art *have* to be communal?
Questions of should-be/could-be/is….
Many wonders. So many wonders.
Yes…Maier. Perhaps there’s compulsion…that not to write or photograph isn’t a choice for them. I’m thinking (hoping) they knew their brilliance. Again, thank you for publishing the Graves quote to cause us to ponder.