art and art and art

A weekly poem by Alexander Shalom Joseph

Good Morning Everybody,

Below is this week’s poem. I hope you can find something in it that is meaningful to you:

I wonder

about all the artists

of history

did they struggle

as I did

those who made it big

who define our thinking

our joy our sadness

our lives and losses

with what they have made

did they feel they had enough

when the world

had accepted them

had seen them as heroes

saints idols

what about the ones

who didn’t make it

the majority

at the sidelines

working on their craft

with nothing but the craft

to show for it

did they in time

they had made something

worthwhile at least to them

or maybe they quit

and were better off

or spent their whole lives

resenting the choices they made

or maybe just having the passion

and working on it bit by bit

was enough

what path is the right one

what path is possible anymore

for new york city

is a now playground for the rich

and not some hot bed for art

and eggs are twelve dollars a carton

and a computer can write a novel

or a song

or a movie

in ten seconds

that’s basically as good

as anything else

than I can make

yet I wake up

before work

and I try to write something true

I don’t know

if this is noble or stupid

if it is worth anything

to the world or myself

yet I do it each day

I guess I still do it each day

never knowing the answers

to the big questions

or what the questions ever are

I just wake up and write

and try to say something

that I can look back on

with pride

and maybe that is all

I can ever do

and will ever do

maybe that is all

any of us

who try to make art

have ever done

is to sit down and make it

and the rest

the fame

the failure

the feeling of worth

all that

is something else

maybe the making

is all that has ever been

or maybe

that is just the words

of someone

who hasn’t made it

Thank you for your continued support of my work! For process notes and prompts based on each weeks poem please upgrade to paid!

Thank you!

Alexander