RADIANT MEAT AND GEMS!

asking what we want poetry to do for us is really asking what we're willing to do for poetry.
--Karri Kokko

Wow and Whew! This interview just became one of my top three favorites put out by Tom Beckett's Will To Exchange Blog! There is just SO MUCH! in this interview of Karri Kokko by Tom Beckett. Like this excerpt below -- and do click HERE for entire DAZZLING INTERVIEW -

let me recount the story of Giotto, the early Renaissance painter from Florence, of Tuscany. As a young boy Giotto worked as a shepherd, and to pass the long hours out there in the hills he used to spend his time drawing. For lack of proper materials, he drew on rocks or made his pictures right there in the sand with a stick. One day Cimabue, the most famous painter of his time, walks by and sees young Giotto's drawings. He's impressed by the boy's apparent skills and asks him to join him as a student. Giotto accepts (actually his father does) and the rest is history. Even today, seven centuries later, millions of people from all over flock to see the raw beauty of the former shepherd's images in the cathedrals of Italy.

Now, I think what we have here is analogous to all art, including poetry. We have this talent and the willingness to use it, no matter what happens. We write our poems, no matter if the wind or the rain washes it off before anybody actually sees it. Then one day maybe, just maybe, a Cimabue happens along the way to help us. And if we are talented enough, and persistent enough, maybe we find an audience. And if we're lucky, really lucky, maybe we get to touch a few people's hearts.

But there's so much more Gorgeous words -- wait till you read about Karri's Mama! Do check it out check it out check it all out!