I remember reading a wonderful biography about Rainer Maria Rilke, "The Poet's Guide to Life - The Wisdom of Rilke." I turn to Rilke's "Letters to a Young Poet" often. Like so many other things that I interact with so often which are "classic" --
(classic: multitudes of riches inside and can therefore its partaker many times. Such classics are also "timeless" and can survive the tests of time and scrutiny),
I continue to get more out of Rainer more each time I visit his world.
Rilke had two pens. One for creating "masterpieces," for writing poems and novels. The other pen he had was for bills, requests, and letters. The latter being time-consuming, but not necessarily "artistic," work.
Today, I had the immense pleasure of spending time with my lecture recital material (and my kitty). And to my credit, I chose the right pen. I practiced, good quality, and spent a good bit of today writing and listening to the world of Béla Bartók and his dynamic Hungary and Budapest. An older version of me would have procrastinated a lot today, doing a whole host of things to postpone the inevitable task at hand. But not today. Today, I was a brave Magyar (Magyar = Hungarian) warrior against the foes of baking, Facebooking, and even talking on the phone at length.
Rilke's advice on the matter of writing, dissertating, practicing, or art-making in general:
"Every morning, face nothing but yourself, be truly alone, and choose between the two pens that could channel the production of the day."
Here's to choosing the right pen in 2013.
Photo: Fishermens' Bastion, Buda Hill at dusk, Hungary, August 2012
Location:May St, Rochester, United States
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