Beltane ii

London said something about the fear of buckling down and being a poet. When I say poet I mean what most people mean by writer, but I mean a writer with a sacred trust, one who inherits the keys the prophets and enchanters, the bards of old, have passed to us. This is the fear that comes to all who choose art. We have heard of those frustrated people who talk about their day jobs and taking time to be night musicians, making their true calls their hobbies, writing, singing, composing in their spare time. We've heard the lie from more practical people who say, "Yes, we know your art is important to you." You can do it after work. You can do it after you have given us your time doing what is logical to us, exhausting yourself in the work we give you to do.

Ah, but work that is given second place is work that is second rate, third rate. We have to take it seriously even if no one else will. We who are writers must do what we can to insure that nothing gets in the way of the gift we have been given.

I was talking to the woman who drove the bus I was on yesterday, about education and the are we live in and the subject of my schooling and of writing came up. She said, "Now that's a gift, to be able to communicate..." Well, it is easy to forget that is a gift. But it is, and a true gift is a true responsibility. If we have been given a gift it is our job to use it, not to turn away from it. It is our responsibility to give it back to everyone around us.