Artists

I've heard discourse around whether artists have to be tortured

To truly be good artists

All I know is art is sifting feelings and experiences through narrative and pretty s**t

So it's easier, or more pleasant.

And I know that if I could talk about the things I write about,

I wouldn't be writing a f*****g poem.

If someone knew, if someone could know

I wouldn't have to sift the words.

I heard Viola Davis say a part of her love for acting is that she can express the traumatized feelings she experiences in day to day life,

except instead of dismissal, scrutiny, and whatever countless ways you can turn someone into an artist,

she gets praised.

How incredible your gift is, Viola

To be able to pull sadness and grief right out of the pools of your body and nervous system

As if it sits there shallowly, never spilled, never evaporated, never relieved

It is a Schrodinger's cat

In that the water is so close to your fingers

But you can't see the bottom

So it may be a meter deep

Or it may extend for miles

But Viola can pull from it so easily

Thank you Viola, for your gift

Thank you for never saying it to anyone's face.

I hear Buddy Bolden went mad

And I will never say that you can't make happy art

Or that there's no use for it

Or that artists can't be happy

But I don't think happiness could've made Buddy Bolden

People are so delusional

They think this version of us is the best we can do.

I really think that's an insult.

Is that really what you think about me?

Is that really what you think about you?

Anesthesiologists have the highest rate of suicide

Simply because they have been given a painless way to die.

I think we can do a little better than that.

People lack imagination

And that will be the death of us

If you can't dream of better than this

You will never dream of anything.

I think that's why there's so many artists

I think their pain has no-where to go

If I could talk about it,

I wouldn't be writing a f*****g poem.