society adores the juxtaposition
of someone who suffers to create
someone soulless and aching and breaking
but also someone who knows
just what to say
and saying things,
it is what we as artists do,
constantly and never stopping
until it sets in
that they are no longer listening
and listening is tough for us, i think, because we are always moving
and feeling and touching and struggling to get a word in,
to paint something or move someone or play a tune that might make someone feel something
that might make us matter
because a thousand
beautiful starry nights
don't matter unless they are painted by someone who is hurting
a song won't be tapped out against someone's dashboard unless the person who wrote it lived a life of pain
we, as artists, are only worth love if unhappy
are only revered when we sell our souls,
our chances at happy lives,
to be something that matters to people
you can be an artist, too, if you'd like
it only costs you your life
