The 2nd Outlet
Blake, famously, illustrated his poems. Henri Michaux was an accomplished and renowned artist as well as a “master” prose poet. Archie Ammons painted (my friend Brian Clements owns a bunch of originals). Flannery O’Connor too. And she recommended it for writers.
And I recommend “it” too. And by “it” I mean some other form of creativity besides writing. “Real” writing (ha ha). Even blogging (??) can be this 2nd outlet of creativity.
I draw and smear around on paper. And take photos of it. And I find it quite rewarding. And in some way(s) I am sure this enhances and complements my writing.
But, as with anything else (wine, women, werewolves, etc) the 2nd creativity can become too much. An obsession. A distraction. (Blogging !!!!)
I’m not sure how successful I am in keeping the different disciplines in good check but one solution for me is to write and smear at different times of the day. And, in general, to just keep an eye on the situation.
I’m guessing that many of yall have a 2nd creative outlet and wanted to know how you keep it useful without it becoming a harmful distraction ? (that being said some writers may well be better artists or whatnot and, so, the 2nd creative outlet SHOULD take over…..)
i like ARCHIE AMMONS a lot.
archie ammons is a dead guy who used to write poems. he doesn’t write poems anymore because he can’t move his limbs and i think he probably doesn’t have a mind anymore either. but when he was alive and still writing poems, he wrote book length poems, usually with each sentence separated by a colon. of his books, i have read, ‘Glare,’ ‘Tape for the Turn of the Year,’ ‘Garbage,’ ‘Bosh and Flapdoodle,’ ‘Sphere,’ ‘Ommateaum with Doxology’ and i think one other called something like ‘the northcarolina poems.’ he wrote on receipt paper scrolls using a typewriter. he did that because he wanted the experience of writing to seem unimportant. i remember reading something about how when he went on a drive to another state, he unrolled the receipt scroll for his current project and took it with him because he was afraid his house would burn down while he was gone. i understand being that paranoid but it’s usually over something like, a drawing of a horse on fire eating bacon or something unimportant.