AK
Thanks for the advice. I will think it over. Dead poets are infinitely preferable to
nothing and I hate the idea of an older poet befriending me and being my mentor. So I
take yr comments w/a grain of salt.
RA
ann klefstad wrote:
> > r
> >
> > Well, I do agree with you about Cage. I made the point recently to someone that
> > Cage was never the anarchist he claimed to be in all his interviews and books.
> > Real anarchy would have threatened his position as an artist. There were certain
> > admirable qualities Cage had though. For instance, during most of his career he
> > really lived hand-to-mouth and had to teach etc.. It wasn't til later in his
> > career that he became self-sufficient as an artist and then he adopted a very
> > strange attitude: he maintained a strict work-ethic. After all that talk about
> > how unemployment was the state of Budhhist enlightenment (which I believe he got
> > from Berlin Dada) , he proceeded to become a professional composer/aritist.
> > Ironic, no?
> >
> > The reason I don't do my writing and art anonymously is that it has been done to
> > death and why make that sacrifice to cover old ground. I mean Duchamp said "go
> > underground" but it reflects such a cynical stance.
>
> Look, don't let dead artists tell you how to live. If they didn't listen, why should
> you? Many artists, writers, musicians, I know found themselves forced into unlivable
> positions because they felt they had to adopt various purist postures that had been
> written about by various aesthetic heroes. This is nonsense. If your purpose is to
> make art, make it by any means necessary that are compatible with thinking it and
> doing it. Your life is singular.
>
> AK
