In preparation for the fourth in the What Makes Genius series, a little homage to a wordsmith & wildman, a genius for those who were born with fire in their bellies >> “I too am not a bit tamed, I too am untranslatable,
I sound my barbaric YAWP over the roofs of the world” the blazing Walt Whitman
Perhaps it’s something in the DNA strings still resonating (there’s a poet laureate somewhere in my chemical coding) but I have a passion for potent poets (& songwriters) who can sling words with masterful ease & style. Their words lie like time bombs: patient, dormant until cast over & activated by human eyes or ears, delivering their intended visceral impact. Booom! Uncoiled power & real immortality.
From the deep & wide frenzy of imaginative fertility online, (thanks to the ease of online publishing and social media) I’m constantly being blown away by powerful gems of genius that lie scattered around the web. It seems we’re unleashing our wildness & defining who we are as individuals en masse. Styles diverse, delicious, disturbingly real and distortedly delusioned ..Who are you, really?
Try this: grab a quick 10 minutes & go write/share/make something today that speaks of the unbounded & unique you.. print it, scrawl it or go leave it somewhere online in sheer celebration of your unruly & wildloving creative self. The more outrageous the better, particularly if you haven’t done it in a loooong time..(anonymous may make it safer to be real the first few times) In the words of yet another delicious wildman Oscar Wilde:
Give a man a mask & he’ll tell you the truth
If it makes you laugh uproariously/ get a lump in your throat/ bursts a massive adrenaline rush into your blood/ floods you with relief when you’ve put it out in the world >> you’ll know you’ve hit the mark.
Maxie,He was deliciously gifted, wasn’t he?I came across Uncle Walt’s YAWP quote originally in “Dead Poets’ Society,” Robin Williams first serious role, if you don’t count “The World According to Garp.”Three days after this post, I wrote a poem called “Before I Die,” in celebration of the first time two colored coaches met in the SuperBowl–the premier stage for American Football–and, at the same time, praying to put an end to all wars. It was hard to do, it made me cry, and a huge burden lifted off my shoulders when I finally posted…Take care, and thanks for your recent visit.All the best,RP.S. Haven’t had a chance to check your Flicker gallery lately. Any new gems???