I Don't Need Clothes.
It is actually pretty scary how many people
who call them selves Writers don’t read. I mean, even a book, or a few short
stories. Or a series of poems. Nothing.
How is that? For the last few weeks, I’ve been hearing a repeated axiom: Never
accept clothes from a naked person.
Too many of my fellow writers are naked,
and are trying to clothe me. It’s silly. I have heard so many poems this week
that lack
capacity. And they want applause but can’t handle critique.
Do we, the reading Writers, not know bad
when we hear it? Are people so deluded as to not give them selves enough
material so that they can produce their own? How is one meant to shape an
ethic, a style, an identity if they never learn from history? And you’ll find
that these same people who are Poets and know it, don’t even have one classical
Writer that they can quote word for word. No, it’s not that they have bad
memories or something. People can remember 50 pop songs and can’t even give you
a quote from a book. Ethics are directly proportional to information.
We are dooming our selves if we expect to
train a generation of thinking, creative people without giving them the joy and pain of
reading.
And then there is the horrific spelling. I,
used to be quite the grammar Nazi. But I know when someone is dyslexic or just
plain lazy. There’s a difference. I won’t insist on correcting someone if I can
tell it’s not purposeful. But there is a limit, you know. Some people
personally abuse their language faculties, and stunt growth. One never stops
learning. And a reading Writer is a better learner. Does one not use a tool
better if one practices? Practice means that one is more efficient and better
at doing whatever they do. In the Writing sphere, it means learning from the
best. We don’t all like the same Writers. We have differing tastes. But one
will not learn about the human condition by reading pop music lyrics. And one
will not improve if they never stretch their own faculties and capacity.
It’s an aesthetic thing, of course. But
consider this: if one claims to be a long distance runner, and never watches
running or push their own endurance further than usual, one will not win.
Because those that truly run, run further than expected. So one is supposed to
read something else other than Facebook updates or HELLO Magazine. One is meant to be able to articulate
themselves, especially if they expect attention. And we, who read and Write,
will not pay attention to anything that cannot give us value. How can we walk
with crawling babies when we are bipedal men and women? How are we to accept
clothes from the delusional naked? How are we to eat off an empty plate with
drawings of food on it?
I have seen too many so called Writers who
do not read. It is a cruel thing. A Writer,
more than many other craftsmen, is meant to live with an awareness of the
history behind them. Our literature is the universe within which we expand and
grow. But too many of my peers (and them youth) are killing my zeal to share. I’d
rather dip into a book.
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and i always try to start em off on DUNE...
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