Moderation Is Not A Negation of Intensity, But Helps Avoid Monotony
by John Tagliabue
Will you stop for a while, stop trying to pull yourself together for some clear "meaning" -- some momentary summary? no one can have poetry or dances, prayers or climaxes all day; the ordinary blankness of little dramatic consciousness is good for the health sometimes, only Dostoevsky can be Dostoevskian at such long long tumultuous stretches; look what that intensity did to poor great Van Gogh!; linger, lunge, scrounge and be stupid, that doesn't take much centering of one's forces; as wise Whitman said "lounge and invite the soul." Get enough sleep; and not only because (as Cocteau said) "poetry is the literature of sleep"; be a dumb bell for a few minutes at least; we don't want Sunday church bells ringing constantly.
