Is a writer who doesn’t write still a writer?
Is a musician who doesn’t play still a musician?
What about a filmmaker? If they’re not making films, are they still a filmmaker?
In other words, does being an artist run deeper than the deliverables?
Are artists walking through the world with different eyes and different brains?
Seeking novelty over scale
Choosing beauty over abundance
Driven to innovate, innovate, innovate
To breathe in what already exists and exhale what doesn’t
To live in every moment
At all costs
As if they are creating art constantly, whether it comes out into the world or not
Some of their greatest works, still inside, always inside, like a warm fire burning, a secret never told
And is this something to want?
Staying lit
Exerting energy to fan the flame
All that energy
Taken away from other things
Earthly things
Practical things
It’s a silly commitment
Like refusing an electric heater for a match
Only because the flame lives and dies
And in between those two finite points of existence, it dances.