“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep.”
~ Scott Adams
Happy February!
Welcome to a brand new month here at alphabet soup, featuring Love and Chocolate!
I’ll be posting about things I love and eating as much chocolate as is humanly possible (health benefits, you know).
Today I’m sharing a poem about art and writing, two things I definitely love. But as any writer or artist will tell you, paintings and stories don’t just fall from the sky (though we often wish they would). There is a process — stages to go through, steps to follow, mistakes to be made.
Yeah, it’s all about the journey.
I found “Why I Am Not a Painter” by accident, and every time I read it, I smile. I’ve always longed to paint, but drawing feels like a foreign land. So I try to paint with words. I’m so glad I found this poem, because it made me realize how much the poet and the painter have in common, and how one can inform the other.
When you read it, don’t take the casual, anecdotal style for granted. There is more here than meets the eye.
WHY I AM NOT A PAINTER
by Frank O’Hara
I am not a painter, I am a poet.
Why? I think I would rather be
a painter, but I am not. Well,
for instance, Mike Goldberg
is starting a painting. I drop in.
“Sit down and have a drink” he
says. I drink; we drink. I look
up. “You have SARDINES in it.”
P.S. I checked the house. I don’t have any sardines. I don’t have any oranges. But I do have these:
Do you think there’s any hope for me?
Today’s Poetry Friday hostess is Karen Edmisten. Drop in for some coffee and lots of great poems.
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“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt, and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” ~ Leonardo da Vinci
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