How Herb and Dorothy Find the Best

Adorable, huh? Indeed,
but these two have an internal sense of trust that is enviable.
Now if we can just translate their message to poetry…

The other night I watched a documentary on Herbie and Dorothy Vogel, a couple who have amassed a stellar collection of minimalist and conceptual artworks on a very small budget. What did it take? Dedication. Passion. Belief. They look and look. They never give up.


That little Herb, cute as a button, studies each artist's work with ferocity. He wants only the pieces that speak directly to him. It's heartening to see that sometimes he prefers the rejects to pieces with monetary value. And Dorothy, too, enters each studio, gallery, exhibit, with her own eagle eye. These two are sharp with color, and brave about concepts. No one tells them what to like, or what's worthwhile. They know what they want.


The movie is about art as a force of expression with human value, rather than art collected as a commodity with economic value.


And this is true of poetry.
The poems you see in journals, the names that repeat over and over, from one table of contents to another, from one back page to another, do not signify the only way to write a poem. They might signify the stylish way for the moment, rather than the best.  


As the Vogels' have said about art collecting,"…you don't have to follow trends or others' advice. Just listen to your own voice. Trust your eyes and instinct. Simply take the time to look, look and look."


Translating this to poetry, I say read, and read some more. Like what you like, not what editors tell you to like. 


And this goes for writing too... Write your work in your voice. Trust what you have to say. Somewhere down the line, you just might realize you've amassed a collection of your own poems worth a fortune in human emotions.