say goodbye to the singular genius
Thursday 11 May 2004
I'm pretty anti-social, which I don't think is going to surprise anyone who knows me. This isn't because I don't like people, but rather because I'm just plain embarrased in dealing with people, and find it extremely difficult to overcome. Which is a problem for a poet. You might not think so. I know that artists, writers in particular, and among them poets especially have a reputation for being isolated individuals. In fact this is often seen as a necessary pre-requisite for writing. Witness the notions that to be a writer you must 'have a shard of ice in your heart', and that writing is a form of betrayal.
Although I'm anti-social, I do like people, I like spending time with people, and I find that people inspire me. Ideas come from many sources; from movies, songs, documentaries, news, adverts. But especially from people, whether involved in these sources, or the people you meet. When I've been most sociable I've been most productive. I have been productive when I've been least sociable, but the work has usually been a whole lot less interesting. Not least because however skilled and honest you are at self-appraisal, without the perspective of other people you have no external gauge. It's long been a given in my work that as individuals we don't really exist in isolation, we don't have much of an inherent personality. Only when we are exposed to other people does who we are emerge. It's an extreme expression of my position, but it makes clear where I'm coming from. It also shows why I'm so fascinated by friendships, gangs and communities.
Not sure why it's on my mind, I think because I've just been noticing the things that spark off writing. At the moment I'm working on a script about immigration issues (again not a surprise to anyone who knows me), and a number of different things have fed into it. There was a Ch4 documentary called 'Keep Them Out', about protests against a detention centre in Lee-on-Solent, as well as a documentary strand featuring the story of a refugee woman who has attempted suicide four times because if she's dead her children will be able to stay in Britain. Then there was a book I read some time ago which detailed the badges and distinct clothing that various groups - especially lepers, prostitutes and Jews - were expected to wear in the middle ages. And there are the variety of images of torture from Iraq in recent weeks, not to mention similar images already seen in films (Blair Witch), and the UK government's trialling of ID cards. All of these things have a human dimension, and it's only by the juxtaposition of elements that an idea comes together. As it was it only took a few weeks, but if I'd been talking to more people, doing more stuff then I'm sure the process would've been accelerated.
I guess the moral of this tale is that you gotta hang out with people if you wanna make worthwhile art... just ask any band or film director.
I'm pretty anti-social, which I don't think is going to surprise anyone who knows me. This isn't because I don't like people, but rather because I'm just plain embarrased in dealing with people, and find it extremely difficult to overcome. Which is a problem for a poet. You might not think so. I know that artists, writers in particular, and among them poets especially have a reputation for being isolated individuals. In fact this is often seen as a necessary pre-requisite for writing. Witness the notions that to be a writer you must 'have a shard of ice in your heart', and that writing is a form of betrayal.
Although I'm anti-social, I do like people, I like spending time with people, and I find that people inspire me. Ideas come from many sources; from movies, songs, documentaries, news, adverts. But especially from people, whether involved in these sources, or the people you meet. When I've been most sociable I've been most productive. I have been productive when I've been least sociable, but the work has usually been a whole lot less interesting. Not least because however skilled and honest you are at self-appraisal, without the perspective of other people you have no external gauge. It's long been a given in my work that as individuals we don't really exist in isolation, we don't have much of an inherent personality. Only when we are exposed to other people does who we are emerge. It's an extreme expression of my position, but it makes clear where I'm coming from. It also shows why I'm so fascinated by friendships, gangs and communities.
Not sure why it's on my mind, I think because I've just been noticing the things that spark off writing. At the moment I'm working on a script about immigration issues (again not a surprise to anyone who knows me), and a number of different things have fed into it. There was a Ch4 documentary called 'Keep Them Out', about protests against a detention centre in Lee-on-Solent, as well as a documentary strand featuring the story of a refugee woman who has attempted suicide four times because if she's dead her children will be able to stay in Britain. Then there was a book I read some time ago which detailed the badges and distinct clothing that various groups - especially lepers, prostitutes and Jews - were expected to wear in the middle ages. And there are the variety of images of torture from Iraq in recent weeks, not to mention similar images already seen in films (Blair Witch), and the UK government's trialling of ID cards. All of these things have a human dimension, and it's only by the juxtaposition of elements that an idea comes together. As it was it only took a few weeks, but if I'd been talking to more people, doing more stuff then I'm sure the process would've been accelerated.
I guess the moral of this tale is that you gotta hang out with people if you wanna make worthwhile art... just ask any band or film director.
Comments
>> going to surprise anyone who knows me.
Dude, how could it possibly, by any stretch of both the laws of logic or the imagination, come as a surprise to someone who knows you? If they know you, they already know how much of an anti-social fucker you are. Stop trying to confuse me with your superior knowledge of the word stick! You want mental jujitsu? I'll EVISERATE YOU!
just thought I'd say hi really...
Adam
Hey, have you checked out mutapoem yet? There was a problem, in that I didn't have it set up to allow alterations by anyone except me, but I've fixed that now. You still need to go through some Swiki admin and set up a swiki of your own; though you don't need to anything with it. But once that's done you've got a username and password to mess away as you wish... I think it also means you can edit any other swiki with open permission.