“The process and the result are very close to each other. A poem can lift me for a day, sometimes two, three if I think its good. It’s often a very personal experience, because generally, there is no one to tell. Hopefully, the reader experiences an atom of what I am experiencing.” – Raymond King Shurtz
I’ve been listening to Diamanda for the last few hours while I work. She embraces darkness so fully, and sings of topics our society tends to turn its back on—”her works largely concentrate on the topics of AIDS, mental illness, despair, injustice, condemnation, and loss of dignity.” (wikipedia)
Still, it’s Thursday, the day I was born, and I get the chance to step out of my everyday life and remember—I’m ALIVE!—while I dog/house sit for some dear friends in Scottsdale.