Sometimes It Costs Everything

(Transcendence - Michael O’Brien)

“‘Poetry must never be a vehicle for ideology.’

‘That’s ridiculous. Poetry is always a vehicle for somebody’s ideology! … I’m for freedom.’

‘So am I. But what do you mean by freedom, Caleb? Can there be freedom without responsibility? … The poet who sees himself as a hero or a prophet, or a priest of the socio-political forces to which he is loyal, which he believes are the historical necessities of his times, too easily becomes a puppet. He has no external measure with which to assess reality. Whether he submits to the forces or rejects them, he becomes a parody of himself, and then without knowing it submits his gifts to the demons of his era. He loses his place in the continuity of time. He becomes dependent on social affirmation and the drug of exalted feelings common to all revolutionaries. He destroys, even as he thinks he creates.’

‘Whew! I shoulda got into basketball.’

Josip laughs. Caleb’s humor is sometimes irresistible.

‘So, you think I’m a bad apple, Joe?’

‘No, you are merely young. And your desire for exultation is really a damaged longing for the transcendent.’

Now Caleb is frowning hard, thinking hard. … ‘I don’t get what you’re saying. Could you write it down for me?’

‘Of course, if I can remember it. I have already forgotten what I said.’

‘Something about fake prophets, I think you said.’

‘Did I say that? But that is not it exactly. I think the real challenge for the poet is to distinguish between his tendencies to genuine creative intuition and the impulses of the self-centered ego.’

‘How does he do that?’

‘By seeking to understand himself without falling into the trap of self-obsession. By suffering. And most of all, by loving.’

‘Love?’ Caleb rolls his eyes.

‘Yes, Caleb, love. Love costs. It always costs. Sometimes it costs everything.’”

~Michael O’Brien (from Island of the World)