When young students get good marks in English and enjoy reading, they always wonder what it would be like to be an author. Then they think of stories they'd like to write about and ways to change the world through the power of the mighty pen, more powerful than the sword as the saying goes. I first applied my language skills to enter college in Radio & Television Arts, but I found more and more that the type of writing needed was not at all creative. The set formula was to write commercials or television content that was the same as other T.V. slush. Fortunately, I knew music and began to pay attention to lyrics. This was the medium that could give expression to my ideas. Fame was not in the cards, and I lost more than I made on a regular basis. In need of money, I turned to the financially promising world of poetry. Now, even the bill collectors won't call me. I developed an ability to remember my English classes and the heavy emphasis on poetry that I used to pass tests when I couldn't think of any other project to submit. I traveled and loved women, giving them poems written especially for them. They love poems, but relationships with underfinanced boyfriends usually end in rejection. They complimented my writing ability as they drove me away into the drunken darkness. Now I'm artistically satisfied and poor as a church mouse; I don't even know why the mice living in churches have less money than other mice, but apparently that's the state of things. I forgot that the great Leonard Cohen had money to start out with, became slightly less rich being a poet, and got rich again by writing music. His books sold well at first, and when he become a famous folksinger, his book sales were better than ever. Fame breeds more fame. Now he's traded his notoriety and wealth for the life of a Buddhist monk. The wheel of life comes full circle. I worked my hands off playing my guitar and I sang across the country until I was blue in the face. I couldn't understand why I couldn't make a decent living. There was one medium I hadn't tried and that was prose. I decided to write a novel and there it was...thirty-three years later I finished the book, The Golden Blues. It's a journey through altered states of consciousness to form a plan to correct a mistake and alter the fate of a traveler looking for a lost love by understanding the nature of the universe by practicing Buddhism and attempting a guided reincarnation. Now that Leonard Cohen has renounced materialism in favor of nirvana, he's several steps ahead of the trend to seek enlightenment. The discipline of fasting can be mastered quickly by would-be bards. Going without food comes naturally for a starving poet. If I were to give my best advice for young writers, it would be: see if the Post Office has any openings. Get a secure job with good benefits because old age sneaks up without warning, and then the romantic thought of gaining inspiration in a Greenwich Village hotel washing down pizza crust with red wine while a mysterious French woman wearing a beret taps bongos as you write doesn't seem that attractive anymore. The next generation will be too busy playing computer games to muse over the writings of a sensitive genius in the candlelight. The next time your pen runs out of ink, don't fill it up again light up a stick of incense, shave your head, and repeat your mantra until those annoying rhymes flow from your ears. Poetry is a vehicle that has the power to drive you straight to the poorhouse.
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