On the artist's ego

February 21, 2013 candacemorris 2 Comments



As I sit to read (and inevitably interrupt myself with the photographing of it), I wonder about the correlation of reading and writing.  Only one sentence into an essay or one stanza into a poem and I am itching for a pen or keyboard myself.  

It's hard to know what to do with myself when Bowie is not around.  She is playing with Grandma overnight, so here I am with some 'time off' and I spent the first 30-min of it shuffling about the house aimlessly.  I am especially skilled at time-management, so I have no idea how Moms that are not also inclined deal with free time.  You have to have a plan, man!

So to tea.  Earl Grey. Hot.
Then to Cheryl Strayed, the author of the third of these essays I am reading and writing about. 
Then to discuss Ego.

An obvious progression, of course. 
(?)

Well, I was listening to hip hop today.  I know, I know.  Shocking behavior for me.  I was lost on the way home from dropping Bowie off, so I had time to kill.  I opened Spotify and typed in this artist, a local musician my friend turned me on to.  This rapper talks about a lot of nonsense and a lot of meaningful issues, as any rapper should.  But what he kept mentioning was Ego.

Ego got in the way of his success.  He "sparred" with it. 
"Make the money, don't let the money make you."
How his goal was to capture the human experience, and perhaps speak into mine as I listened.

It's about work, and work, and then more work.
"The greats weren't great because at birth they could paint.  The greats were great because they paint a lot."


And while the hip-hop scene is much more reliant on Ego and reputation (define: game), I have begun to realize that ego has been one of my very best friends in this whole 'Hey, wanna try to be a writer?" game I've been playing with myself.

It's so stupid.  

Those are my deep thoughts on the matter.

SOO.  Today, as I write.  I make a cup of tea in a very gorgeous little cup and saucer.  I like how precious it is.  I've never sipped from it until today.  It has been a decoration on my windowsill.  I guess you could say that it had an ego all its own.  But no, cup!  You will be used and used and used instead of just admired.  

And that was the day that I was inspired by a rapper and a teacup.
In a way, taking myself less seriously is making a serious artist out of me.



p.s.
great song
great song
such a great song
the song he's most famous for
a great video of him rapping for NPR (delish!)

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2 comments:

Thanks for sharing the Macklemore love, I'd only heard a few of his songs... I just had a major crack-out listening session on spotify and LOVED it! Also, that site you linked to with all the lyrics and explanations was awesome! Hope you are enjoying your evening sans baby, and soaking up all the inspiration and writing time you can!

eve! said...

"taking myself less seriously is making a serious artist out of me"

Yup. Can't laugh at yourself? Long, hard road of rejection is even longer, even harder. *boner joke*