back to the bardo

Armed and Dangerous has posted one of the better essays I’ve read on the importance of courage.

Again with the poetry – I do love Bukowski:

Air and Light and Time and Space by Charles Bukowski

“You know, I’ve either had a family, a job

something has always been in the

way

but now

I’ve sold my house, I’ve found this

place, a large studio, you should see the space and

the light

for the first time in my life I’m going to have

a place and the time to

create.”

No, baby, if you’re going to create

you’re going to create whether you work

16 hours a day in a coal mine

or

you’re going to create in a small room

with 3 children while you’re on

welfare

you’re going to create with part of your mind and

your

body blown

away,

you’re going to create blind,

crippled,

demented,

you’re going to create with a cat crawling up your

back while

the whole city trembles in an earthquake

bombardment

flood or fire.

baby, air and light and time and space

have nothing to do with it

and don’t create anything

except maybe a longer life to find

new excuses

for.

And another one from the same site that I’ll just give to you here:

Afternoon of a Biblioparadisiac by David Mitchell

Melted to incandescence by

The aroma of fresh ink,

Yielding stiffness

Of fine paper,

Elegant lines of the font

Of eternal renewal:

We are bound by language

As by other tyrants,

Although the torture

Remains far sweeter, even

In memory.