For the young who want to
Talent is what they say
you have after the novel
is published and favorably
reviewed. Beforehand what
you have is a tedious
delusion, a hobby like knitting.
Work is what you have done
after the play is produced
and the audience claps.
Before that friends keep asking
when you are planning to go
out and get a job.
Genius is what they know you
had after the third volume
of remarkable poems. Earlier
they accuse you of withdrawing,
ask why you don’t have a baby,
call you a bum.
The reason people want M.F.A.’s,
take workshops with fancy names
when all you can really
learn is a few techniques,
typing instructions and some-
body else’s mannerisms
is that every artist lacks
a license to hang on the wall
like your optician, your vet
proving you may be a clumsy sadist
whose fillings fall into the stew
but you’re certified a dentist.
The real writer is one
who really writes. Talent
is an invention like phlogiston
after the fact of fire.
Work is its own cure. You have to
like it better than being loved.
Notes
Lately I've been feeling whether my creative efforts, or err hobbies, (yes, I'm afraid to call it work) amounts to anything, and Piercy has an answer for me, and all of us who are in this boat. She strips away the paralyzing, state-driven expectation of institutional validation, reminding us that being a writer or artist isn't a title bestowed by others, but simply the quiet, persistent act of doing the work itself. By cutting through our self-doubt and unburdening us from the heavy demand for external approval, the poem invites us to step into the ultimate lightness: creating purely because the work demands to exist. . #poetry #writing #writersblock #overcoming #july